“My wife has turned my boxers to rags as she always tears them to rape me,” a retired soldier, Gafaru Rodoye, told an Igando Customary court in Lagos.

He told the court on Tuesday that his wife, Idiat, with whom he had five children in their 20-year old marriage, always raped him.

“My wife always rapes me; she had turned all my boxers to rags to achieve her selfish aim.”

The petitioner said that his wife was in the habit of threatening his life through beating and that he was afraid she might kill him one day.

“I had to run away from my 16-flat building to rent an apartment elsewhere just to avoid her frequent beatings, but she trailed me to my new apartment to fight me.

“I have reported her severally to different police stations, but it did not yield any positive result.”

Gafaru said that his wife poured hot water on the new wife that was brought for him from the village by his family.

He begged the court to end their 20-year old marriage, saying he was no longer in love as his life was in danger.

“Please, separate us before my wife kills me, my life is not safe with her, I am a pensioner, I need to enjoy the fruit of my labour.”

However, Mrs Idiat Rodoye, 44, business woman, denied all the allegations, saying her husband was a womaniser.

“My husband runs after anything in skirt; he always sends me packing from the house whenever he wants to bring in another woman.

“He once sent me out with the children for three years.

“After sending me out, he had married six different women, but none stayed long with him. He will always come back to beg me to pack back.”

The mother of five said she never raped her husband, that it was normal for husband and wife to make love.

The respondent said that she did not beat her husband, but it was her husband that was always beating her.

Idiat said that her husband removed the plasma television, air conditioner and disconnected the electricity supply from her flat, leaving her and the children in darkness.

She urged the court to grant her husband's wish that she too was tired of the marriage and no longer in love.

The Court President, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, adjourned the case to April 5 for further hearing. (NAN)