It was a fairytale romance that was supposed to end happily ever after for Cape dental surgeon Tertia Roos after she married her Prince Charming, a handsome multi-millionaire called Kevin McKnight.
But the fairytale became a twisted mystery story after she found out he was a fraud facing a string of charges, that "Kevin McKnight" did not exist - and their marriage was one big lie.
She finally fled in terror - and later found he had allegedly fleeced her of hundreds of thousands of rands into the bargain, she told the Cape High Court.
Roos, 27, of Gordon's Bay, was granted an annulment of her eight-month marriage on Monday, after she revealed that the man she married after a whirlwind romance was, in fact, 26-year-old Kevin Desmond Harvey, aka "Shane Steel", "Kevin Kirsten" and "Kevin McKnight".
"Shane Steel" is the name of a Johannesburg chartered accountant who is not associated with Harvey, but the other names are believed to be made up.
Roos became suspicious after the stories "McKnight" told her did not seem to add up.
So three months into the marriage, she hired a private investigator.
The detective told her that "Kevin McKnight" did not exist. In addition her "fake husband" had allegedly defrauded her of an undetermined amount of money - believed to be several hundred thousand rands.
It emerged in court that Harvey's failure to produce proof of identity had prevented the Department of Home Affairs from issuing the couple with a marriage certificate - making the annulment relatively easy.
But her shock at finding she had been married to a man who never was may haunt her a lot longer.
It was on a Wednesday night in May that a "very scared" Roos made her escape from her husband.
She was frightened because she did not know who he really was or anything about him.
They were at a Stellenbosch restaurant when she told Harvey she was going to the bathroom.
Instead she drove to her parents' home in Swellendam, arriving at 11pm. "The first thing I said to my mother was, 'There is no Kevin McKnight'," Roos said.
She and her father Nico later returned to her home in Gordon's Bay - after Harvey had asked her to lend him a car - and informed him that Roos would not be returning to him.
Harvey was arrested.
Speaking to the Cape Argus on Monday, Roos said she had met Harvey while she was completing the community service part of her dentistry qualification at the South African National Defence Force base in Centurion.
She was impressed by the self-styled international business director's charm and promises that he could help her further her career in New York, where he claimed he had been living for seven years.
After two months, the couple were married in Swellendam - with Roos wearing a ring Harvey claimed was worth more than R40 000. Even that was a lie: it cost R600, she said.
Harvey also told her he had completed a PD at Harvard University, had the highest IQ of any American college student, was a martial arts champion and had worked as a chef on a cruise ship in Tahiti and a lifesaver in Durban, where he said he had grown up.
The couple had planned to move to New York, Roos said. But then Harvey told her several of his fellow directors had been arrested for fraud and he no longer wished to be associated with his company, "Global International", or return to New York.
Roos said she had decided to work on building her practice in South Africa. It was a "mistake" to allow Harvey to run the financial side, she said.
Harvey's alleged fraud is under investigation as he sits in Pollsmoor prison awaiting trial on charges of fraud, hijacking and robbery.