The family of a new bride whose husband admitted to bigamy has revealed it’s not the first time he’s pulled a dirty on her.
Less than six months ago, Vernon Mentoor also left Henriett Steedsman standing at the altar.
They now pray that he willl rot in jail after he married Henrietta and Shanine Biza within hours of each other.
“This isn’t the first time he broke her heart. Last year October he didn’t pitch for the wedding,” says Henrietta’s angry brother, Marshalow Steedsman.
“My sister is in tears now. May God help his soul, it will be better for him if he goes to jail. He must rot in jail.”
Meanwhile, his “first” wife was so humiliated that she resigned from work last week.
And apparently Shanine knew Vernon was getting married the next day, because their son was at the wedding.
Vernon of Strand, 33, claims he didn’t know he was breaking the law when he first married his baby mama Shanine on Friday, 15 April, before tying the knot with Henriett a few hours later in a lavish ceremony in Grabouw.
The self-confessed bigamist claims he married Shanine in an attempt to secure his 11-year old son’s financial future.
Vernon believed his son would lose out if he ever died and Henrietta inherited alles.
So he decided to legitimise his son’s stakes by marrying Shanine first.
Last week, Reverend Oscar Bougardt of Strandfontein, who married Vernon and Shanine, reported a case of bigamy to the Department of Home Affairs after he learnt Vernon was already wed.
Henrietta and her family only found out about Vernon’s charade when the Daily Voice contacted her last Thursday.
Yesterday, a still shocked Henrietta would only briefly say: “He came home after 6pm on Thursday and didn’t say anything to me. What is going to happen now, am I still married to him?”
Meanwhile, Shanine responded to the Daily Voice story on Facebook after refusing to comment last week.
She posted: “He got exposed, Oscar Bougaardt, but you humiliated lot of people in the process, I hope you are happy, I had to leave my work.”
Henriett’s sister, Zuleigha Dalwai, also responded on Facebook, where she blames Shanine for the mess as well.
She wrote: “She could have phoned Henrietta and told her she and Vernon got married the Friday night and she also knew Vernon was gonna get married Saturday, their son was also in the wedding… he is a sick b@st@rd.”