Lady Jezebel Cladestina of Fella ("Cladestina") filed divorce and matrimonial property proceedings against Lord Pecker Rod of Campshire ("Rod") in the High Court of the Republic of Kusadikika. The trial Judge, Lord Rick of Cunningham ("Lord Rick"), summarised Cladestina's case into three essential claims. First, Cladestina and Rod celebrated an African customary marriage on the lawns of Rod's palatial mansion ("the House of Rods"). Secondly, Cladestina and Rod had (i) cohabited as husband and wife for five years, (ii) held themselves out as husband and wife throughout the five-year cohabitation and (iii) carried on business and bought properties together throughout the five-year cohabitation. Lastly, Cladestina and Rod had been known as husband and wife throughout the Chewers, Kanairo and Mursik Counties of the Republic of Kusadikika.

Lord Rick equally summarised Rod's case into three essential claims. First, Rod was in a monogamous Christian marriage with Lady Stoica Mkiri of Miraashire ("Mkiri"), the marriage having been celebrated at the Lunga Catholic Parish (in the Chewers County of the Republic of Kusadikika) twenty years before the institution of Cladestina's divorce and matrimonial property proceedings. Secondly, Cladestina was a guest and "friend with benefits" who had overstayed her welcome at the House of Rods. Lastly, a divorce decree could not issue without evidence of a legally valid marital union between Cladestina and Rod.

Cladestina adduced many items of evidence, which Lord Rick wholly accepted despite strenuous objections from Rod's counsel, Dr Legal Sophistry QC ("Legal Sophistry"). The first item of evidence comprised video clips of voluptuous socialites twerking and showing off invaluable "morphological bequests" from their respective mamas, allegedly recorded on an iPhone 14 Pro Max by an undisclosed patrician and distinguished guest at the African customary marriage ceremony held at the House of Rods. The second item of evidence was the oral testimony of Reverend Father Lothario Mackenzie ("Fr Mackenzie"). Fr Mackenzie testified that Rod had confided in him, in the confession box at the Lunga Catholic Parish, that his marriage to Mkiri did not comply with ecclesiastical laws governing the sacrament of holy matrimony. Fr Mackenzie also testified that most of the priests stationed at the Lunga Parish believed, based on matters they had heard from various congregants at the confession box, that Rod was an incorrigible "heart-thief" with a long history of seducing and defrauding "thirsty upper-deck women" through sham marriages. Fr Mackenzie further testified that he did not believe in the authenticity of handwriting attributed to the presiding priest on records from the Lunga Catholic Parish that Rod adduced to prove his Christian marriage to Mkiri. Lastly, Fr Mackenzie testified that the priest who presided over Rod's marriage to Mkiri, Reverend Father Dick Kamunta ("Fr Dick"), died in mysterious circumstances after hearing "sleazy allegations" against Rod, in the confession box, from "romantically vulnerable patrician women."

Rod equally adduced many items of evidence, which Lord Rick wholly accepted despite strenuous objections from Cladestina's fire-spitting counsel, Mr Loquacious Oratio QC ("Oratio"). The first was a photocopy of a certificate of marriage signed by Fr Dick at the Christian marriage ceremony between Rod and Mkiri at the Lunga Catholic Parish. The second was a scanned copy of a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kusadikika which indicated that Cladestina was in a monogamous marriage with Lord Crock Straw ("Crock") as of the date of the African customary marriage held at the House of Rods. The last was the oral testimony of a bow-legged, bald, grey goateed and wizened Bartholomew Ignatius Mateo ("Mateo"), a sad-looking gramps way past his heyday. Mateo testified that he was a legendary wrestler and venerated member of the council of elders of the Chewers tribe of the Republic of Kusadikika. Mateo also testified that, in his opinion, the ceremony held at the House of Rods was invalid for non-compliance with immutable requirements ordained by the laws, customs and traditions of the Chewers tribe.

Lord Rick summoned and examined two witnesses suo moto despite strenuous objections from Oratio and Legal Sophistry. The first was Mr Leak Snoopy ("Leak"), a middle-aged man who had served as an altar boy at the Christian marriage ceremony between Rod and Mkiri. The other was Mr McNaughten QC ("McNaughten"), a lawyer Rod had retained a year before the African customary marriage ceremony held at the House of Rods to advise him on matters relating to sham marriages, matrimonial property and nuptial agreements. Leak testified that (i) he was a distant cousin of Mkiri and (ii) Mkiri had neither been seen nor heard of for "many years" preceding the African customary marriage ceremony held at the House of Rods. On the other hand, McNaughten testified that his clerk had whispered to him that Rod was seeking legal advice to enable him to defraud "yet another rich woman." Lord Rick accepted the testimonies of Leak and McNaughten, whom he described as "court witnesses" and "earnestly and utterly truthful." Further, Lord Rick declined applications by Oratio and Legal Sophistry to cross-examine Leak and McNaughten.

Lord Rick adjudged the African customary marriage between Cladestina and Rod as "hot air, a wild goose chase and a figment of Cladestina's fecund imagination." Accordingly, Lord Rick dismissed Cladestina's matrimonial property claims, holding that "property is acquired through discovery, purchase, donatio mortis causa, nomination, gift inter vivos and transmission. Anyone with an elementary acquaintance with the legal system of the Republic of Kusadikika knows that property is not acquired through social climbing or adulterous cohabitation."

Lord Rick's judgment has stunned Cladestina and the Republic of Kusadikika's radical feminist movement, both of whom accuse him of "intemperate diction and misogynistic interpretation of the law." Cladestina, who has recently found fame and fortune through election to a political office, has urged her supporters to "remain calm" and sworn to "appeal pronto." Cladestina promises that the appeal will be "noisy, messy and full of casualties." The appeal will turn on the rules of evidence and, in the main, the relevance, admissibility and weight of the evidence adduced before Lord Rick.

You are a bespectacled, studious, meticulous and promising lawyer with "a luminous future," having graduated top of your class at the University of Kusadikika's Faculty of Law and recently secured a lucrative associateship at the leading law firm in Kusadikika. Consequently, predictably perhaps, Cladestina has sought your "crisp and succinct legal opinion" on the trial court's compliance with the rules of evidence and, in the main, the relevance, admissibility and weight of the evidence adduced before Lord Rick. Kindly provide the required legal opinion.

Important Note: The laws of the Republic of Kenya, including its case law and the received English common law and doctrines of equity, extend to and apply throughout the territory of the Republic of Kusadikika.