He Attempted To Strangle Me, Attempted To Poison Me —
A woman, Grace Cletus has dragged her husband, John Cletus before Ile Tuntun Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Grace had sought for divorce on the accounts of threat to life by her husband. She added that he was troublesome and had made life hell for her.
The plaintiff also pleaded with the court if her prayer was answered to grant her custody of their two children but make him responsible for their upkeep.
She further appealed to the court to restrain the defendant from coming to harass or assault her at her new place of abode or work place.
John did not consent to divorce giving the welfare of their children as his reason.
Grace said: “My lord, I have not enjoyed any marital bliss since I got married to my husband. My experience thus far for the 19 years we have been together is best described as hell.
“John started beating me from the outset of our marriage. He would raise dust over trivial issues and beat me blue black. Both the landlord and our neighbours regard us as nuisance and are tired of our frequent fight.
use twice and rented another apartment because of his troublesome nature. Our parents mediated in our differences on both occasions and I moved back into his house, but he has failed to change.
“My lord, I now sleep with one eye open because my husband is planning to kill me.
“John had made attempts on my life on different occasions, but he had always failed. About a month ago, he tip-toed to my side of the bed and pointed a torchlight to my face. I lay still, pretending to be deeply asleep, but jumped out of bed when John grabbed my neck. My lord, his plan was to strangle me.
“I reported him to my parents who advised that I move out of his house with our children, but I refused to take to their counsel preferring to give him another chance.
“My lord, John has not been favourably disposed to the fact that I’m pregnant with our third child and had cajoled me into aborting it but I have declined doing such.
“He saw an opportunity of terminating the pregnancy when I complained to him that I was experiencing pains in my lower abdomen. He gave me a substance which he claimed would relieve me of the pain.
“I felt somehow uncomfortable and suspected a foul play so I asked that he drank a part of it first but he refused. This substance was later confirmed to be poison.
“My lord, I can’t stay married to a murderer. I plead that you separate us so that we can go our different ways.
“I also plead with the court to grant me custody of our children and make him responsible for their upkeep.
“My lord, John is a troublemaker; I further appeal to the court to restrain him from coming to assault me in my new apartment or work place.”
John giving his evidence said: “My lord, all Grace has said is a lie. She is wicked and her plan is to dent my image. I plead that our marriage be not dissolved because of our children. I don’t want them to be victims of broken home.”
“Grace refused to state her main reason for dragging me to court. Her money was stolen in her shop a few weeks ago. Not too long after this, recharge cards worth N70,000 were again stolen from the same shop. My wife believed I was the one who stole her things on both occasions. She accused me of theft and humiliated me before her parents.
“We later consulted an oracle and presented some names as suspects, mine included. To my wife’s disappointment, our son’s face was displayed on the oracle as the culprit,” the defendant stated.
“My lord, we live in the dark because our apartment has no power supply connected to it. I wanted to use the toilet in the night and was trying to put on the torchlight when I tripped and fell on her.
“I never gave Grace poison. What I gave her was drug to ease her pain, “the defendant concluded.
Giving his judgment, the court president, Chief Olasunkanmi Agbaje, dissolved their marriage and ordered that their two children, who were already in the custody of the defendant, to remain with him.
Agbaje stated that aside their ages, the decision was necessary in order not to disrupt their education since they were both attending the school where their father teaches.
The defendant was mandated to give the plaintiff access to their children, stating that the instructions must be carried out according to the court’s injunction.