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I didn't know my husband had divorced me - court
A TEACHER divorced his disabled wife without her knowledge so he could retain access to her £1m compensation payout, a court heard.
Muslim Khalil Kazi wed again under Islamic law in Morocco while his original wife, Meimuna, thought she was still married.
Mrs Kazi only learned that her marriage to the 39-year-old had been dissolved when she tried to divorce him.
that Kazi, a former imam at Armley Jail in Leeds and in his home town of Batley Carr, had falsified divorce papers and perjured himself by falsely swearing a witness statement for a grant of divorce, said prosecutor David Hall.
His plot collapsed after four years, in 2006, when severely disabled Mrs Kazi visited Dewsbury County Court to apply for a decree of judicial separation.
Giving evidence wearing a veil, wheelchair user Mrs Kazi told Leeds Crown Court how she reacted when she was told there was already a divorce in place.
She said: "My solicitor went to speak to Mr Kazi's solicitor and she came back with the shocking news that I was already divorced.."
"I was very shocked. I trusted my husband and I never expected he would do this to me."
She added: "I felt very guilty he had lived with me for one year living in adultery.
"He never told me at any time he had divorced me. He never mentioned anything about a divorce."
Mrs Kazi's decision to file for a divorce followed her husband's admission that he had married while in Morocco.
She told the court she had been 16 when she and Kazi married in 1995. A year later they had a son and two years later Mrs Kazi sought treatment for back pain.
Mr Hall said Mrs Kazi had visited Dewsbury Hospital where she was advised her problem was a minor one and should be dealt with by her GP.
"It turned out she was suffering from an epidural abscess," Mr Hall said. "By the time it was diagnosed Mrs Kazi had been rendered paraplegic. She sued Mid-Yorkshire Hospital Trust for negligence, a case that was settled with a payment of 1m."
At that time, Mr Hall said, Mrs Kazi was still living with her husband and family at Warwick Road, Batley Carr.
He said a specially adapted home had been provided for her at Skipton Street, but her husband did not want to move and so she stayed at Warwick Road.
The defendant bought Skipton Street under the right to buy, but Mrs Kazi thought her husband had used her compensation money without her permission, Mr Hall said.
Kazi, of Warwick Road, denies perjury and perverting the course of justice.
The case continues.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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