My Woman-batterer Husband Won’t Spare My Mother - Food Vendor Laments

A food vendor, Olubukola Omotayo, on Wednesday, told an Ile-Tuntun Customary Court in Ibadan that her husband of 23 years was a wife beater, who had also thrown his punches at her mother.

Revealing her ordeal before Chief Henry Agbaje, the president of the court, Olubukola, who lives at Oke-Bola area of Ibadan, described her husband, Sunday Omotayo, as an unrepentant violent man.

According to her, one of the three children of the union is now with a broken tooth as a result of her husband’s violent nature.

“When the battery was too much for me to bear, I ran to my mother’s house for safety, but he still came there to continue to assault me.

“When my mother, who was sick at that time, tried to stop him, he pounced on her and gave her the beating of her life.

“My poor mother died shortly after the incident, which made me to leave him in 2011.

“A court separated us back then, but he went against the order of the court, as he refused to take up the responsibility of caring for the children, claiming that they were not his,” she said.

Olubukola said she was forced to quit her tailoring job to become a food vendor in order to create more time for her children, whose ages are 11, 14 and 16.

“I, however, got a call early this year from his mother begging me on his behalf to take him back.

“Since he also came pleading to be forgiven, I allowed him back into our lives, thinking he had changed,” Olubukola told the court.

She recalled that Sunday came to her house one night to seek her assistance because he had been involved in a trouble.

“He sought permission to stay with us; even though the children were opposed to this, I granted his request. I later regretted my decision.

“Since he was idle for five months, I had to feed him and never asked him for house rent.

“I also assisted him to get a motorcycle which he could be paying back its money in instalment; but with the motorcycle repossessed from him, since he couldn’t pay up, I got him a driving job.

“Sadly, all my efforts earned me was to bring him back to his old ways of beating me at the slightest misunderstanding.

“My children have, therefore, said he shouldn’t come back to the house because of his violent behaviour and his frequent threats to kill me,” Olubukola said.

Sunday, who was threatened to be locked up for his unruly conduct at the court, as he kept throwing up matchsticks from his mouth, eventually said he was not willing to divorce his wife.

He claimed he was ready to stick to the marriage for the sake of his children.

Having heard from both parties, the court’s president reserved judgment till Dec. 3, ordering Sunday to restrain from Olubukola and the children.

Source:(NAN)