My father beats my mother frequently, son tells court

A 12-year-old boy, Bright Ogugua, has told a Mararaba Upper Area Court, that his father, Emeka, beats his mother at any slight provocation.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Bright made the disclosure while testifying in a divorce petition filed by his mother, Ngozi Nnaji, against her husband, Emeka Ogugua

He added that any day such incident occurred; his father would drop little money for their feeding.

The Upper Area court judge, Mr Ibrahim Shekarau, asked the little boy how many times he had seen his father beat his mummy and the boy said, “on many occasions”.

“There was a day I used the poly bag my daddy used to tie ‘Abasha’, African salad to set fire in order for us to cook.

“When my daddy discovered that I took that poly bag, he was so angry with me to the extent that he slapped me twice.

“My mummy was so annoyed with what he did and told him if he slapped me again, she would slap him back.

“Then, my daddy slapped me the third time and my mummy slapped him back and it resulted in a serious fight,” he said..

Ngzoi had on August 16 filed a divorce petition against her husband praying the court to dissolve their 13-year-old marriage for lack of peace and love.

The petitioner said that she was tired of the marriage, adding that the respondent was in the habit of striping her naked any day they quarrelled, even in public places.

She also prayed the court to order her husband to vacate from the house because she owned the house.

The respondent denied some of the allegations.

Shekarau asked the petitioner to bring the land agreement of the house to the court in the next adjourned date and the respondent to bring witness that would defend him.

He adjourned the matter till October24 for further hearing.