Whenever I got pregnant, my husband would disappear, wife tells court

My wife is troublesome, that was why I left the house —Husband

A 40-year-old petrol attendant, Seun Olaleye, has told a Lagos Island customary court that her second child became crippled due to her husband’s negligence.

Seun, a mother of three, whose husband, Gbenga Olaleye, had approached the court for the dissolution of their 16-year-old marriage told the court that her husband would abscond whenever she was pregnant.

She told the court that their marriage was blissful until she was pregnant with their first child and her husband left the house to rent another apartment.

“Whenever I got pregnant, my husband would disappear; he would leave me with no money. Most times, I was going to his parents who could do little because they were aged.

“I have three children for him, two girls and a boy, and once he knew I was pregnant, he would leave the house only to return when the child is about a year or two.

“I needed to undergo surgery to be able to give birth to our second child but my husband refused to help. Eventually, the child was forced out of my womb and it affected him because he was born crippled.

“Our boy, Matthew, is now 11 years old but he cannot do anything on his own.

“The children and I have been evicted from our rented apartment and are now squatting with a friend, while my husband stays in a three bedroom flat at Egbeda with another woman,” she said.

Seun told the court that her husband had never been there for her when she needed him and urged the court to dissolve the marriage.

She, however, pleaded with the court not to allow her husband saddle her alone with the responsibility of taking care of their children, especially, the boy who needed special attention.

The husband, Gbenga, 43, who did not deny his wife’s allegations, told the court that his wife was troublesome and that was why he left the house.

Gbenga told the court that on several occasions, his wife had come to his place of business to abuse and embarrass him.

“My wife comes to the market where I sell to abuse me; she tells people that I have low sperm count just to disgrace me when she knows that I am the father of her children.

“I am tired of her troubles. I am no longer interested in the marriage,” he said.

President of the court, Mr Awos Awosola, said that women are precious gems that should be appreciated and not maltreated.

Awosola ordered the husband to hand over the keys to the three-bedroom flat he rented for his wife since he could not provide a befitting accommodation for his family.

“You live in a three-bedroom apartment while your wife and kids are homeless, you should be ashamed to call yourself a man,” he said.

He ordered the wife to calculate how much she had been spending as the children’s school fees and upkeep since the husband abandoned them.

“Let the court know how much you have spent and how much it takes to take care of the one with special needs to enable us to determine how much your husband would pay for compensation,” he said.

He urged the two parties to keep the peace and adjourned the case till August 15 for further hearing.