Domestic violence, however, has no place in a healthy relationship, whether the couple is dating, cohabiting, engaged.
The Oja Oba/Mapo Court C Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, has dissolved the 11-year-old marriage between a man, Kolawole Dagunduro and his wife, Idayat Dagundoro.
Kolawole had sought for the dissolution of their marriage on the accounts of his wife’s numerous atrocities, the major one being denial of his conjugal right.
The plaintiff further appealed to the court, if his prayer was answered to grant him custody of their two children.
Idayat agreed to divorce but appealed to the court to disregard her husband’s prayer on their children’s custody.
The defendant when giving her evidence refuted her husband’s allegation on sex and further accused him of neglect and violence.
Giving his judgement after listening to both parties, the court president, Chief Ademola Odunade observed that their marriage had broken down irrevocably.
Ruling, he dissolved their wedlock and granted custody of their two children to the plaintiff.
“My lord, I lost my peace the day I got married to my wife. She has given me no rest of mind. “She has no regard for me and my family members and is in the habit of raining curses on us.“She picks quarrel with me and fights me on a regular basis. She once fought me in the public, tore my clothes and stripped me naked.
“At another time we fought and our neighbours, on seeing that things were getting out of hand, invited the police and we were arrested and detained. The police mediated in our matter and after listening to both of us, counselled her to be well behaved.
“The climax was that she came to fight my boss in the office alleging that he was the one encouraging me to come home late.
“Our neighbours, family members, friends and church members often mediate in our differences, but all has been to no avail, “he said.
“I once went to work and on my return, I discovered she had locked me out. I knocked and banged at the door but she refused to open it. I had no choice but to spend the night at a friend’s place.
“She again locked me out at another time and stopped our son from opening the door for me. My mum on learning about the crises in our home felt concerned and paid us a visit in order that she might help iron out issues between us but my wife refused that she entered our apartment, “he added.
“My lord, no matter how well I treat my wife, she will still misbehave. She puts up a carefree attitude and has stopped cooking for me. She also starves me of sex. We’ve not had sex for almost a year.
“She’s presently unemployed but she keeps late nights. She locks the children up in the house, leaves home without my permission and returns anytime she pleases.
“I gave her our children’s school fees to pay but she squandered it.
“My lord, I’m done with her, please separate us. But I pray this honourable court to grant me custody of our two children because their mother is not a good example to them, “Kolawole said.
“I’m also through with him, ”Adiat told the court.
“He’s a brute and has failed to take care of me and our children.
“I developed some complications when I was being delivered of our first child and bled profusely. He and his family members felt indifferent to my plight and neglected me. It was my family members who stood by me and ensured neither I nor the baby died. They also paid my medical bills. This made my family and his to be at loggerheads.
“He owes the sum of N60, 000 as our children’s school fees and he refused to pay but went along to buy a car. I discouraged him from buying this car and advised him to pay the fees first. He got annoyed and kept malice with me for three months. He exposed us to regular embarrassment from our children’s school. They never ceased to harass us by the police.
“My lord, I didn’t lock our children in the house. We live in a flat and in our compound every family keeps to itself. I made them stay indoor so that they would not disturb other families or be regarded as nuisance.
“Her sisters have also not helped matters. They are bent on having our marriage dissolved. They came to our house, rained curses on me, slapped and fought me. They both beat me to a pulp.
“At another time they took my husband away from home for two months and kept his whereabouts away from me after we fought and he smashed a mirror on me, “Idayat stated.
“He lied that I denied him sex. It was his sisters who instructed him to stop having sex with me. They swore he would regret it if he did.
“They made their threat real because the six times we had sex this year his performance was zero.
“My lord, I pray this court to grant me custody of our children because my husband comes home late and doesn’t have time for them. The last time he took them to one of his sisters they came back home looking emaciated, “she concluded.
