A 32-year-old housewife, Mrs. Folasade Fatunla, yesterday told an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court that her husband, Gbenga, beat and stabbed her after she went to cast her vote in the 2015 Ekiti State governorship election. Folashade, who made this known when she testified in her divorce petition, said that her husband stabbed her in the hand with a broken bottle.
She said: “My husband accused me of leaving the children at home without his knowledge.” The petitioner begged the court to dissolve her 12-year-old marriage to Gbenga for alleged battery, threat to life and lack of care for her and the children. Folasade, a trader and resident of Igirigiri Street, Ado-Ekiti, told the court that she packed out of the respondent’s house a year ago when he attempted to kill her. She said the petitioner did not pay her bride price, adding that their cohabitation as husband and wife for the past 12 years had produced two children.
The petitioner, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said whenever Gbenga was drunk and she queried him for behaving in such manner, the respondent would beat her mercilessly. Folasade said her husband often threatened to kill her whenever they had any misunderstanding. She urged the court to dissolve the marriage to enable her have peace of mind to enjoy the fruit of her labour.
She requested that the respondent should be paying N10,000 as monthly feeding allowance of the two children and he should also be responsible for their education at all levels. President of the court, Mrs. Olayinka Akomolede, after hearing the testimony of the petitioner, adjourned the case till February 28, for further hearing. She ordered the petitioner and the respondent to bring their witnesses on the adjourned date.
