My husband sends thugs to beat me two years after leaving him – Wife

A 40-year-old mother of four, Mrs Abeke Igbamidun, has told the Abeokuta Customary Grade II Court, Ake, how her estranged husband, Femi Igbamidun, allegedly organised thugs to beat her two years after she had left his home.

Abeke had instituted a divorce suit against Igbamidun on grounds of frequent beating and threat to life, which she said informed her decision to pack out of the matrimonial home in 2016.

At the first hearing of the suit on April 4, 2018, where both parties were present, the court directed them to go for family mediation.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, Abeke informed the court that the mediation effort failed and insisted on dissolution of the marriage.

“After our last appearance, he sent some thugs to attack me. They banged on my door at midnight and when I opened the door, they discovered it was me. To the shock of my neighbours, they confessed that it was him that sent them to beat me, and they apologised and left.

“I don’t know why I deserve this from a man that I stood by even after he married four other women. I left when I could no longer bear the beating from him, yet he is sending thugs after me,” she said.

The defendant, who was absent in court yesterday, caused a delay in judgment as the court declared that since he was present at the last hearing, he should be given an opportunity for another invitation as the court wasn’t sure of what could have happened to him.

“But if he again fails to appear at the next adjourned date, we will give judgment,” president of the court, Chief Olalekan Akande, stated.

The case, which was earlier adjourned to June 15, 2018, was brought forward to May 24 as Abeke broke down in tears, lamenting that her life was in danger.

In a related development in the same court, a mother of six children, Mrs Oluwakemi Ogunrinde, pleaded with the court to eject Olalekan Ogunrinde, her husband of 23 years, from her apartment with immediate effect.

Oluwakemi told the court that her battle with her husband was “spiritual”, and she could not continue to be a victim of frequent beatings.

“I had left him for about eight months, but after several interventions I accepted him back to come to my rented apartment. But no sooner that he returned than trouble started again. I think it is a spiritual problem and I cannot continue to be a victim of such. He is always beating me even when you cannot understand any reason for it,” the medical laboratory scientist told the court.

Her position was corroborated by her daughter, who was present in court.

Akande ordered that a fresh invitation be sent to Ogunrinde, who was absent in court, and adjourned the suit to June 1, 2018.