SupersSport soccer analyst Matthew Booth and his wife Sonia Booth have for the past five years been sleeping in two separate bedrooms after the former model obtained a protection order against him, following an incident of domestic violence.
The incident resulted in Sonia obtaining a protection order against the former Bafana Bafana defender.
Sonia later requested Matthew to move back to their bedroom, but he refused. The two have been living estranged since the incident and have agreed to live under one roof for the sake of their two children.
The explosive titbits are contained in the urgent application for a court order filed by Matthew’s alleged mistress Bongani Mthombeni-Moller in the Johannesburg High Court last week. Mthombeni-Moller had applied for an order to force Sonia to apologise, retract and delete social media posts in which she accused her of having an adulterous affair with Matthew.
The application was dismissed with costs by the court because it lacked urgency.
In the application, which we have seen, Mthombeni-Moller said Matthew and Sonia’s union has been characterised by estrangement and abuse.
She said Sonia narrated the abuse she suffered at the hands of Matthew in a book titled “Two Years of bliss and Eighteen Years of Batter”.
“In December 2021, the respondent published a book titled “Two years of bliss and eighteen years of batter,” wrote Mthombeni-Moller in the affoidavit.
She said the title of the book was suggestive and reflective of the timeline and nature of their relationship.
“At the time of publishing, the couple had been in a relationship for circa 20 years. The book is a compilation of stories from different women, under pseudo-names, which narrates various ways in which they have experienced various forms of abuse in relationships. Sonia herself has contributed a chapter in the book, in which she chronicled the failure of their relationship, however due to the pseudonymic nature of the book, the particular chapter is unknown to the public. Notwithstanding this, the respondent and Matthew remained married and agreed over 5 years ago to continue to cohabit for the sake of their children,” reads Mthombeni-Moller’s affidavit.
Mthombeni-Moller also said Sonia obtained a restraining order against the retired footie, which resulted in the couple sleeping in two separate bedrooms. However, details of where the protection order was obtained have not been provided in the affidavit.
“Additionally, the respondent has sought and obtained relief against Matthew under the Domestic Violence Act. She shortly thereafter requested him to return to the master bedroom, to which he refused due to the precarious nature of the protection order. The above information was recently given to me by Matthew,” reads her affidavit.
Booth confirmed Mthombeni-Moller’s allegations in the confirmatory affidavit he deposed in support of her urgent application for the urgent court order against his wife.
“All the facts herein contained are within my resonance knowledge and are both true and correct. I have read the founding affidavit of Bongani Mthombeni-Moller, and I confirm the same insofar as it refers to me,” reads Matthew’s confirmatory affidavit.
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