An indigene of Ndiova Echialike in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, who is a mother-of-seven, Mrs. Faith Nwanchor, has dragged her husband before a Family High Court presided over by Justice Iheanacho Chima, for the dissolution of her 17-year-old-marriage with her husband, Chinedu Nwanchor.
The plaintiff hinged her prayer for the dissolution of the marriage on the alleged constant battery and seizure of her personal belongings by the man.
She urged the court to compel Nwanchor to release her seized properties to her as they go their separate ways.
In the suit marked HAB 50c/2022, Faith told the court that Nwanchor often beats her, citing a time when she visited her father’s house and her estranged husband stormed the residence and beat her in the presence of her parents.
Due to the absence of the defendant in court, the trial judge directed that Nwanchor be served a second time for him to appear. eudge adjourned the matter till July 29.
During an interview shortly after the court proceeding, the plaintiff’s counsel, David Ikeh, explained that the court adjourned the matter for repeat service for the sake of fair hearing from both parties.
If the defendant fails to appear in court on the next adjourned date, he said that the court would take any other option it wishes against him.
He said, “Any competent court of justice must always strive to achieve fair hearing of both parties before judgment and that was what happened in court. The defendant was not in court despite earlier service from the court bailiff; so, the court has ordered for repeat service on him.”
Faith said that Nwanchor started exhibiting domestic violence traits after he married a second wife, aged 17, adding that her husband had been acting as if he was under a spell.
She said that her husband had seized her farmland and motorcycle among other belongings.
“I am tired of enduring negative treatment from that man (Nwanchor). I don’t want to die early. I am in court so that he will be shown his rightful place in my life. His brain needs to be reset to understand that I am a human with some rights.
“The problem started in 2019 when he went and brought in a small girl of about my first son’s age as a second wife. I never really bothered since it doesn’t affect my wellbeing and that of my children. But, after sometimes, the second wife, who he now prefers to me, started causing problems by going to cultivate on my farmland, carrying my firewood, seizing my motorcycle and other household properties.
“When I accosted her and demanded the release of my things, she rained abuses on me and reported me to our husband who started beating me on slightest provocation.
“Farming is our major occupation here, but as I speak, my husband denied me access to my rice, cassava, melon farms and yam barn in 2020. The two of them harvested and enjoyed the crops and even sold the rest without giving me and my children a dime from the proceeds. When the beating and humiliations persisted, I went to my father’s house with my children to seek refuge.
“I have to bring the matter to court because of the persistent battery even in my father’s house before my parents. I suspect the second wife has placed a spell on him because that is no longer the man I married.
“In the current farming season, in the 2021 and 2020 seasons, he banned me from cultivating on my farmlands. How can I survive with the children since I have no other occupation and my father doesn’t have enough land to give me? The last time he came to my father’s house and beat me was because I fetched the firewood I parked in my farm against the wish of the second wife.
“Since my parents and siblings could not stop him from humiliating me because of tradition which forbids them from attacking an in-law, I have decided to take the bull by the horn. Our marriage was just done traditionally and he refused to abide by the verdict of our village elders. I am not his punching bag. I am demanding for my fundamental human right and that of my children.
“Marriage or no marriage, he has to take responsibility for feeding and sponsoring his children’s education. He should stop beating me, give me back my motorcycle, farmlands and the proceeds from my crops which they harvested and other personal belongings under his second wife’s possession,” she said.