A SIX-YEAR-OLD love affair between two prison officers has spilled into the maintenance courts.

The two former workmates appeared before Harare magistrate Ayanda Dlamini yesterday where Marcia Gundani was demanding US$100 from her ex-lover Tendai Katsande.

Katsande said he could only pay US$50 as the child in question was not using his surname, but that of Gundani’s husband.

“She let her husband raise the child and gave him his surname, so I am of the view that her husband should continue taking care of the child without troubling me,” Katsande said.

He said he also had five other children who looked up to him for upkeep.

Gundani, however, said Katsande abandoned her when she got pregnant.

“He left me to take care of the child since his birth. My husband whom I am legally married to is the one who had to take care of the child,” she submitted.

She added: “I had to take the child’s birth certificate using my national identification card and that is how the child carried my husband’s surname because I am legally married to him and I use his last name.”

Dlamini ordered Katsande to pay US$50.