A 51-year-old civil servant, Olubukola Oyedele, on Thursday told the Iyana-Ipaja Customary Court that her husband threatened to injure her with a hot electric iron and also cut her body with razor blade in the presence of his mother.
The resident of No. 19 Iyanu Street, Ayobo in Lagos pleaded with the court to dissolve her 20-year-old marriage to her husband, Mathew, aged 53, on the grounds of threat to life and lack of care.
She said: “My husband threatened to injure me with hot electrical iron and cut my body with razor blade in the presence of his mother.
“There was a time he beat me for daring to remove the gas burner from its position and injured my eyes,” she said.
Olubukola claimed she reported the matter to his family members but they refused to do anything about it.
“My lord, if I do not have a child for him, at least, I should have peace of mind and sanity.
“I have informed his family members that I am no longer interested in the marriage,” she told the court.
She further said her husband did not take good care of her and all efforts made by their pastor and community chairman to allow peace reign in their home proved abortive.
“I reported the case to our pastor in 2017 when it became serious. It has even gotten worse now.
“Throughout 2019, he threatened to divorce me and stopped giving me money for feeding and my upkeep.
“I plead with the court to separate us and stop my husband from harassing me,” she said.
On his part, the respondent, Mathew, denied threatening his wife’s life but confessed to beating her twice because she refused to obey his instructions.
“I did not threaten her life my lord. There was nothing like that.
“With the issue of gas, we were both using it. When the first burner spoilt, she told me and I bought another one.
“Last year, precisely June, I told her to contribute at least N5000 for the upkeep of the house, she refused.
“In August, I discovered my wife had packed up the cooking gas. For five days, she refused to return it. This also made me remove the hose because I bought it.
“On the issue of beating, I instructed my wife not to put charcoal iron on the gas but she was adamant. This made me to beat her.
He urged the court not to dissolve the marriage because he still loves his wife.
“The love is still there though we live like cat and mouse.”
The President of the court, Prince Adewale Adegoke urged both parties to maintain the peace and adjourned the case until February 16 for judgment.
