61-year-old Judith Stillwell recently found out that the
Kenyan man she married and funded has been seeing 47
other women across the world. The British grandmother, a
former teacher and divorced parish councillor, met Ovi Elias
in 2009 through a UK dating site, where he told her he lived
in London.
According to Daily Mail, Elias claimed he had gone to the UK
20 years earlier as a student, owned a flat in London and
was a retired accountant looking to buy property in Dubai.
Elias moved into her home after they met in person and
they got married in Brighton in August 2012, as part of what
Stillwell believes was an "elaborate scam".
The woman, who changed her her name to 'Mrs Elias' and
has two children and a grandchild, said she was intrigued as
Elias was "different".
But as they curved out a life at her bungalow home in
Ashington, West Sussex, Stillwell said Elias took frequent
trips to attend to "urgent business".
"While I believed him when he said he was flying to Dubai to
do property deals, I have now discovered he was actually
flying all over the world meeting other women who funded
his lifestyle, just like me," said Stillwell who gave Elias
£25,000 from her savings.
Elias, who had told Stillwell he was 62, reportedly chatted
with women across the world as 47-year-old Steve.
Stillwell added that she paid for them to visit relatives in
Kenya for blessings after their wedding and also gave
"thousands" for water, electric showers and other repairs
after landing in Kenya and finding Elias' father lived in a
poor state.
When they returned to the UK, she further gave her husband
£10,000 (Sh1.6 million) for legal fees concerning the
property in Dubai but Elias ended up travelling for months,
after saying he would only be away for weeks, she said,
regretting that she did not become suspicious.
"He always came up with reasons – for example there was
extra legal red tape," she said.
Stillwell discovered Elias trickery in February when he left
for another trip to Dubai; she found his e-ticket indicating he
had taken a trip to Australia, but Elias claimed it was a
detour.
Three weeks later, a woman in Australia told her she had
found a list of 47 women in Elias' emails. The women were
from locations including the USA, Philipines and Tasmani.
"Apparently he met them all on dating websites and using
the story about a property in Dubai, got them to pay his air
fares all around the world," she said.
"Then he stayed for weeks at a time living with each woman,
spinning her the same line."
Stillwell said she asked Elias to leave when he returned and
has not seen him since then. She said police informed her
that they can do nothing as her huband did not break the
law, but added that she would like her story to serve as a
warning to to other women.
"Ovi – or Steve as he was also known – seems to be making
a good living out of women like me. He meets them on a
website, says he is in love and then after coming out with
various sob stories, gets them to pay for his bed, board, and
travel."
Comments
Post a Comment