Consequences for adultery

I have recently found myself in trouble for adultery. My wife discovered I had another family with a woman in my office two weeks ago. She threatened to report me to the police despite pleading with her to reconsider this. Fast forward to last week, she met a lawyer friend who advised her to sue for damages under a civil action. This confused me greatly, and I now do not know her next move. Will she sue me for damages or report me to the police for criminal action? Please guide me.
PS, Kilimanjaro

Adultery is not considered a crime under Tanzanian law, as is the case in many other countries. However, section 72 of the Law of Marriage Act [Cap. 29 R.E. 2019] (LMA) allows the affected party to bring a suit for a claim for damages, including compensation for emotional distress, harm to reputation or social standing against any person with whom the spouse has committed adultery. However, no such proceeding shall lie where the aggrieved party has consented to or connived at the adultery, where damages for the alleged adultery have been claimed in a divorce petition. Note that a suit brought under 72 of the LMA will be dismissed if the defendant satisfies the Court that he or she did not know and could not, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, have known that the person with whom he or she committed the act of adultery was married. According to section 74 of the LMA, damages for adultery are awarded at the Court’s discretion but shall not include any exemplary or punitive element. So, whilst adultery is not a crime, it may have financial consequences.

Remember, adultery can be evidence that a marriage has broken down beyond repair and, hence, a ground for divorce. Section 107(3)(a) of the LMA states that adultery committed by the respondent, particularly when more than one act of adultery has been committed or when an adulterous association is continued despite protest, can be considered by a Court in determining whether to grant a decree of divorce. Further, section 106(3) of the LMA adds that a petition for a decree of divorce, which includes an allegation of adultery, may consist of a prayer that the co-respondent be condemned in damages in respect of the alleged adultery, provided that a prayer for damages for adultery shall not be included in a petition for divorce if damages for the alleged adultery have already been claimed in a suit brought under section 72. Your lawyer can guide you further.