I beat her whenever she grabs my scrotum – hubby tells court

Lagos – A 31-year-old woman, Omoronike Ishola, on Friday prayed an Alakuko Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve her six-year old marriage over alleged battery and threat to life.The petitioner, an hair dresser, who lives at 29, Ifalokun Owode St., Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos told the court that her husband, Wasiu Ishola, is not responsible.Ishola, however, denied being irresponsible, adding, “I don’t strangle her; I only beat her whenever she grabs my scrotum.Omoronike had narrated her ordeal in the hands of her Arabic teacher before she met Wasiu.“I was barely 16 years old when my Arabic teacher raped me; my parents had to relocate me to Lagos because I was no longer comfortable among my peers.“Eventually, I had a daughter for him but he has never asked after her well-being and she is now 11- year-old.“It was then I vowed that anyone who was ready to marry me will adopt my child.“When I met my husband, he promised me heaven on earth and accepted to take my child,; but when we got married, his mother disagreed. So, I left my daughter in my mother’s care,”she said.She said that her husband beats her at every slightest provocation and always try to strangle her in the process.“Indeed my husband is an example of a beast, because he beats me without having any human feeling; whenever I sighted him on the street, I ran home because he mustn’t get home before me.“He does not provide for me and the children and he had stopped sleeping in the room with me,” said the mother of two.She begged the court to dissolve the union and help her summon the man that raped her, so that he can take the responsibility of the child she had for him.“Living with Wasiu is living in hell fire, I want the court to dissolve our union and summon the man that raped me so that he can take responsibility of his child,” she added.Ishola, 35, denied the allegations.“She is very stubborn and fights with neighbours, whenever she starts her troubles, I leave the house; also, I don’t strangle her, I only beat her whenever she grabs my scrotum.“I provide for her and my children, I opened a well stocked shop for her, I still love her, I do not support the dissolution,” he said.Ishola also told the court he stopped sleeping in the room with his wife because he cannot contain her attitude any more.The Court President, Chief Awos Awosola, ordered the bailiff to summon the man that raped Omoronike.He also gave Ishola a seven-day community service for beating his wife.The case was adjourned till Feb. 3 for further hearing.