A friendship between two women ended this year because one of the women found out that her friend was having an affair with her husband.

"I was shocked when I went to my friend's house in June this year and saw her in bed with my husband," the woman said.

"It was her birthday so I decided to drop off the present I bought for her. When I went to her house I knocked for some time and got no response.

"I heard music playing inside the house so I suspected that someone was in the house. I rang my friend's telephone but I got no response.

"My first concern was to find out if something had happened to her. I went around the back of the premises. I peeped through a bedroom window and to my shock and surprise I saw my husband and my girlfriend in bed.

"I knocked on the window and when they saw me they both ran into the bathroom. My husband came home later that night and apologised to me for what had happened. He has asked my forgiveness but I just cannot forgive him and I have moved from the house.

"I want to divorce him immediately so that I can move on with my life but I am being told that I cannot divorce him until after a year," she said.

The Matrimonial Causes Act states that the parties must be separated for at least 12 months before a divorce petition can be filed.

Section 5 of the Act states in part that the decree of dissolution of marriage can only be granted if "the court is satisfied that the parties separated and thereafter lived separately and apart for a continuous period of not less than 12 months immediately preceding the date of filing of the petition for that decree".