My husband has gone mad; dissolve our marriage, woman begs court

A fashion designer, Abosede Lawal, has told an Igando Grade A Customary Court to dissolve her 20 years old marriage with her estranged husband, Demola Lawal, who she alleged is mentally deranged.

Abosede, a resident of 29, Ore Ofe Street, Governor’s Road, Ikotun, told the court that she had five children with her husband, a mechanic.

She told the court President, Rasack Ishola-Adeyeri, that when they got married, she did not know that he had mental disorder until she gave birth to their first child.

She said he started behaving funny and saying things nobody understood at the hospital where she gave birth.

The fashion designer said she thought it was something she could cope with initially, stating that she thought that her husband would get well one day until she finally moved out, following threats to her life by her husband.

Lawal said: “Whenever we go to bed, he always says he would kill me before he can be well, though some times when he regains his sanity, he behaves normal.

“Whenever my husband loses his sanity, he always brings acid, cutlass and knife to the bed room and keeps them beside the bed and says that if he does not kill me, he will not be well.

“After sometime he will stop saying it. He also beats me mercilessly whenever he loses his sanity.”

Asked if she was married to another man that prompted her to seek for divorce, Abosede denied it, stating that it was because she could not live with her husband that made her ask for the dissolution of the marriage.

Asked further why she continued to have children for her estranged husband when she discovered that he was mentally deranged, she said she hoped he would get well, not knowing his case was hereditary.

She also told the court that her last child still lived with her husband, while the other four were living with her mother.

She was later advised by the court to get the children to live with her and the matter was adjourned to February 4 for continuation of hearing.