Afrikaans singer Sunette Bridges has been awarded R282 413 in damages after suing an Eastern Cape farmer who dumped her after promising to marry her.
Bridges initially sued Patensie farmer Skip van Jaarsveld for over R1-million after he called off the marriage about three years ago.
He did so in an SMS five weeks before their planned wedding. Pretoria High Court Judge Joseph Raulinga ordered Van Jaarsveld to pay damages to Bridges, as well as interest at a rate of 15,5% dating back to February 2006.
He must also pay the legal costs of her claim. Bridges sued Van Jaarsveld for breach of promise, injury to her reputation, and wasted wedding costs and losses she suffered when she sold her house and enrolled her son in a private school in the Eastern Cape.
She also sued him for loss of income, as she had put her career on hold believing she was about to become a farmer’s wife.
Judge Raulinga said it would appear Van Jaarsveld was under pressure from his mother to break off the engagement.
His mother had threatened to disown him if he insisted on continuing with his plans to marry Bridges, who had been married four times before.
Van Jaarsveld later claimed Bridges had made high financial demands on him, their personalities clashed and that the decision to break up had been mutual.
However he never testified in court. The judge said Van Jaarsveld could not blame Bridges for the breakup. He had enthusiastically stated in media interviews that he had no problems with her past and it did not bother him that she was going to forsake her profession as a singer.
The judge refused to award Bridges any damages in connection with the sale of her house. There was no need for her to sell her home, he said.
The judge also refused to award Bridges the full price of her red wedding dress.
He said she had willingly posed for a Sunday newspaper in the dress, which had decreased its value. – Sapa