A 42-year-old housewife, Omolabake Bashorun, on Tuesday told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos that she caught her husband inside their 60-year-old woman neighbour’s bedroom.
Omolabake, a mother of two, disclosed this while begging the court to dissolve her 18-year-old marriage with her 43-year-old husband, Tunde Bashorun, a businessman.
The woman said that she does not want to die young and that she was no longer interested in the marriage.
“Since the day I caught my husband inside our neighbour’s bedroom, he has been threatening to kill me.
“I caught my husband hiding behind the door of our neighbour’s bedroom, when I went there to pick my purse that I forgot in the room earlier that day.
“Our neighbour, a 60-year-old woman and I are very close; I enter her flat anytime of the day.
“On that fateful day, I knocked her door to pick my purse. I could not enter because she had locked the door from behind; so she told me to come back, that she was sleeping.
“I insisted because I needed my purse to pay for what I just bought, so I forced myself inside the room and I saw my husband hiding beside her door, sweating,‚Äô‚Äô she said.
She added that since that day, her husband’s behaviour changed; he had turned her into a punch ball and always threatening to kill her.
“After beating me, he will pick either a cutlass, a pestle or a knife, threatening to kill me, if I refused to pack out of his house; that he was tired of me and that he had found new love.
“My screaming always attracted our neighbours, who usually rescued me.
“He also called my relatives to come and take me away; that if they did not do so on time, it is my corpse they will meet,‚Äô‚Äô the estranged wife said.
She added that her husband no longer slept on the same bed with her, that he preferred sleeping on the floor or going to their neighbour’s room to sleep.
Omolabake added that her husband also transferred the aggression to his children, as he was no longer responsible for their upkeep.
“He stopped paying their school fees and refused to buy them clothes; instead, he would go and collect used clothes from his friends’ children and bring them home for his children,‚Äô‚Äô she said.
The respondent, Bashorun, did not deny the allegation that his wife met him in their neighbour’s bedroom, but said that he went there to collect something.
“My wife saw me in our neighbour’s room, but I only went there to collect something,‚Äô‚Äô he said.
He submitted that he only beat Omolabake whenever she erred, adding that she was fond of reporting him to his friends and neighbours anytime they had a misunderstanding.
“My wife always reports me to third parties, which I detest so much that I usually beat her to make her change,‚Äô‚Äô he said.
Bashorun said that he always give his children food money, bought them new clothes and that he was still paying their school fees.
He appealed to the court not to dissolve the union, saying that he was still interested in the marriage.
The Court President, R.I Adeyeri, however, adjourned the case till Oct. 21, for continuation of hearing.
