Brother-in-law’s brutality may crash woman’s 11-year-old marriage

A 35-year-old businesswoman, Mrs Kafilat Usman, on Friday urged an Igando Customary Court in a Lagos suburb to dissolve her 11-year-old marriage, citing constant battering by her brother-in-law. “My brother-in-law has turned me into a punching bag. He beats me at the slightest provocation, ” “There is nobody in the house to rescue me from his hands because only the two of us are living in the house my husband built,” she told the court. Kalifat said her husband, Sheu, for whom she had two children, had abandoned her. She said: “My husband abandoned me to his 27-year-old brother about two years ago and relocated to Abuja to marry another woman. “His brother has been dealing with me; there was a day he beat me to the point that I was hospitalised. “I asked my husband to either get an apartment for his brother or relocate me and my children to another house in Lagos. “Or better still, relocate myself and the children to Abuja, but he refused. “My brother-in-law has been bringing his gang to the house to smoke and drink. “In fact, I am no longer comfortable as they can harm me one day.” The husband has refused to appear in court after several summonses. Kalifat accused the husband of failing to take care of her and the children since he relocated to Abuja,. “I have been feeding them and paying their school fees,” said Kalifat, who pleaded with the court to terminate the marriage. The court’s President, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, ordered the court bailiff to serve the respondent another summon to able him to attend the next sitting of the court. Further hearing in the case has been fixed for April 25.