Justice Jude Okeke of an FCT High Court, Maitama, on Wednesday dissolved the six-year-old marriage between Ann Ogar and Justin on grounds of desertion.
Delivering judgment in a divorce petition filed sometime on May 2018 by Ogar, JustyOkeke held that the petition fulfilled the relevant section of the Law.
The judge noted that when the case came up for defence neither the respondent nor his counsel were in court and did not give any reasons or file anything to contradict the evidence of the petitioner .
“I have given due consideration to the evidence of the petitioner, whether she has made out a case to warrant the court to grant her prayers.
“The applicants evidence satisfied the provision of section 15 of the Matrimonial Causes Act.
“The marriage between the petitioner and the respondent contracted in March 28, 2014 at the AMAC marriage Registry is hereby dissolved on the ground that the marriage have, broken down irretrievably.
“For the respondent has behaved in a way that the petitioner cannot put up with him” Okeke held.
Okeke noted that the petitioner had approached the court also for an order granting her the custody of the only child of the marriage.
He noted further that the petitioner in her evidence said that she was married to the respondent in March 28, 2014.
Okeke held that her evidence is weighty for the couple to live together harmoniously .
“To ask a spouse to leave a matrimonial home to look for an alternative accommodation is a weighty conduct which will make co- existence virtually impossible” he held.
He held that according Section 1 of the Child Rights Act, the child of the marriage who is still at his formative age needs physical presence of both parents to be nurtured into a balanced adult.
“The child should remain with the mother. The respondent is allowed to see his child twice every month either in school or the petitioner’s home.
“In addition, the respondent should pay his (child)’s school fees to university level. The order should be served on the authorities of the child’s school for their guidance.
“This arrangement shall be in place until the child matures and chooses any of the parents he will live with, if any.
Earlier in her testimony, Ogar said that sometime in September 2014, the respondent asked to move out of his house with their only child.
“He chased me out of my matrimonial home. I moved from one friend ‘s house to another until I got a place to stay with my baby.
“After we got married, I discovered that my husband and his family were involved in fetish acts which were harmful to me and also against my Christian faith,” she said.
