Court dissolves 15-year-old marriage over frequent beatings

An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court on Thursday dissolved the 15-year-old marriage between Mercy Augustine and her husband, Linus Augustine on grounds of frequent beatings.

Other grounds for the dissolution were unruly behaviour, assault and adultery.

Mercy, 35, a public servant had filed a divorce petition, accusing her husband of maltreating, beating, and disgracing her in the presence of his relatives.

She also said that her husband was dating other women.

Mercy a mother of three children, explained that since she left the house of the respondent in Aug.31, 2013, he had refused to allow her visit the children in his custody.

She appealed to the court ‎to save the future of her children by dissolving the marriage and to award her custody of the children for their proper care and upbringing.

Mercy prayed the court to dissolve her marriage to enable her have rest of mind and to restrain her husband’s relatives from threatening her life.

Linus, 47, a public servant, however, refuted all the allegations.

He accused the wife of infidelity as he recalled catching her making love with her male colleague on their matrimonial bed in April 2014.

He said that he queried her over her wrong doing, but she showed no remorse, but rather requested for transfer to Ado-Ekiti, and left him and the children in Lokoja, where they lived as at May, 2014.

According to him, the wife once call to confess that she slept with three men in Ado-Ekiti, adding that he reported the matter to elders in his hometown.

He agreed with the petitioner to dissolve the marriage‎ for peace to reign and prayed the court for the custody of the three children who lived with him in the past three years.

President of the court, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, granted the request of both parties by dissolving the marriage.
She noted that the marriage had broken down irretrievably.

She awarded the custody of the three children to their father and ordered that they be allowed to spend their long vacation holidays with their mother.

The mother was also granted daily access to the children ‎between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. without any restriction ‎.

Akomolede further ordered that during the period of visitation both parties must maintain peace.