Wife's Physical Abuse Forces Husband To Seek Divorce

A 75-year-old man, Fashola Fakorede, on Thursday urged an Igando Customary Court, Lagos, to dissolve his marriage to his wife, Funke, 49, for allegedly beating him.

Fakorede told the court that his wife had turned him into a punching bag and also inflicted injuries on his body. “My wife wants to kill me, she beats me every day. I don’t want to die now, save my life. She always beats me if I asked for food or anything; she has turned it to a routine affair. All the scars on my body are as a result of her battering,” he said.

Fakorede said his wife no longer took care of him, adding, “She goes out and returns home at will without seeking my permission.

“She can go out for days and if I queried her, she will hit me with any weapon she can lay her hands on at that moment.

“And my daughter is also taking her footstep. She brings home different men and my wife will not query her. So, I sent her away from my house,” he said.

He urged the court to dissolve the union, saying he was no longer in love with her and was tired of the regular beating, which had led to his ill-health.

“I am tired of the constant beating, I am afraid this woman will kill me one day. I am not ready to die now,” he pleaded.

Funke, a trader, denied the allegations, saying she did not beat her husband and always took good care of him and respected him.

The mother of three, however, accused her husband of denying his children the right to go to school.

“My husband is unable to send any of his three children to secondary school. My husband is not responsible. None of our children went to secondary school; all of them stopped schooling at primary school,” she said.

She said her husband had disowned his daughter, and urged the court not to grant his wish as she still loved him.

“I have nowhere to go as no man will want to marry me at my age,” she added.

The judge, Mr. R. I. Adeyeri, adjourned the case till November 25.