MICHAEL AKINOLA
The 13-year old marriage between Susan Udeze and estranged husband, Frank, has collapsed following a threat by the husband to pour acid on her. She then fled and filed for divorce before the Court in Ibadan, Oyo State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the Customary Court in Ibadan, which heard the matter, dissolved the marriage on the grounds of an alleged threat to life as the President of the Court, Mrs S.M. Akintayo, held that she dissolved the marriage in the interest of peace and order.
Mrs. Akintayo awarded custody of the two children to Susan and ordered Frank to pay N15,000 monthly as feeding allowance for the children and ordered Susan and Frank to be jointly responsible for the education, medical and other welfare of the children.
The Court also granted the order restraining Frank from harassing, threatening and interfering with the private life of Susan because they were no longer husband and wife but ordered Susan not to deny Frank access to the children.
Embattled Susan, while testifying, had told the Court that her husband might “sniff life out of her if she continued to live under the same roof with him”.
“Frank labelled me a witch and sent me out of the house at night after beating the hell out of me. He showed no form of consolation when my mother died. He does not provide for our three children.”
“I became more scared of Frank when he threatened to pour acid on me. I reported the incident at the Police Station and ran away from his house,” she narrated.
However, the defendant, Frank was not in Court when he was called to start his defence.
The Court having gone through the statement of the embittered Susan and absence of Frank despite the fact that he was duly notified and summoned before the Court but he chose not to attend, the Court consequently dissolved the marriage and ordered the parties to go on their separate ways and move on with their lives.