Court dissolves marriage over wife’s stealing habit

The gavel of justice

An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court in Ekiti on Wednesday dissolved an eight-year-old marriage between Mr Tajudeen Owolabi and his wife, Idayat, over the latter’s alleged stealing habit.

The court cited threats to his life, ill treatment, cursing and disrespect as other reasons for the divorce.

Tajudeen, 35, of Balota Street in Odo-Ado, Ado-Ekiti, had told the court that his wife’s bad habits had left him restless.

“She is fond of stealing my money and will not allow my business to grow,” he claimed.

The father of two also alleged that his wife hardly prepared food on time and would not wash his clothes.

“She is fond of saying that my business will go down (crash) and that I will see paper and call it money.

“Each time I reported my wife to her parents, the mother was always supporting her daughter; it is only the father that was always telling her the truth.”

The petitioner alleged that Idayat once stormed his house in company of her family members and “disorganised” everything on sight, after pulling off the compound’s burglary proof.

He, therefore, prayed the court to dissolve the marriage.

But the respondent, Idayat, 28, a resident of Omi Olori in Odo-Ado, denied the allegation of stealing her husband’s money.

Idayat denied ever breaking-in into her husband’s house in company with her family members.

She claimed that her husband refused to give her the family’s upkeep allowance for four months and would not eat any food prepared by her.

The court’s president, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, observed that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and, consequently, dissolved it.

Akomolede ruled that the custody of Ismail, 8, one of the two male children of the marriage, should be awarded to the husband.

She, however, ordered that the wife should take custody of Lateef, the other one-year-old male child of the marriage.

Akomolede also ordered the husband to be paying N4,000 monthly to Idayat as Lateef’s feeding allowance, while equally paying the boy’s school fees.

The court also granted both parents access to their children.