“My Wife is Fond of Beating Me” – 72 Year Old Lagos Man

An Igando Customary Court in Lagos on Friday dissolved a 20-year-old marriage between John* and his wife, Mary*,  over his wife’s alleged battery.
The President of the court, *Ben, held that both parties were no longer husband and wife and they were free to go their separate ways.
John, 72, a retired civil servant, had alleged that his wife always threatened his life through beating, among other things.
“My wife is fond of beating me, she beats me on any slight provocation, I am tired of being brutalised.
A day cannot pass without her laying her hands on me, I am afraid she may kill me one day if I still continue in the marriage,’’ he said.
He described his wife as an unfaithful woman who left the house without permission and hardly slept at home.
“My wife can leave the house for a week without telling me. When she returns and I query her about her disappearance from home, she always tell me that she went for vigil.
I believe that she is seeing another man, she did not go to any vigil,’’ he said.
He claimed that his wife always stole his money and it was only the two of them that stay in the house.
John alleged that his wife did not cook for him nor wash his clothes that he cooked and washed his clothes himself despite his blindness.
The petitioner begged the court to dissolve his 20-year-old marriage, saying he was no longer interested in the union as he did not want to die now.
However, Mary, 40, a cleaner, denied all the allegations, but alleged that her husband always denied her sex
“My husband is starving me of sex, he refused to make love to me, he will be giving me one excuse or the other,” she said.
Mary described John as a drunk who drank a lot and misbehaved thereafter.
She said that she had never beaten him, adding that she used to cook and wash his clothes.
The respondent said that she was not dating any man, and accused her husband of being unfaithful.
She said that there was a day she saw him coming out of one of his tenant’s room with a towel around his waist.
The mother of two begged the court not to grant her husband’s wish because she still loves him.