By OLAWALE AKINREMI

A Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan on Friday dissolved a 21-year-old marriage at the instance of an Ibadan-based caterer, Omotayo Kumunyi, on grounds of poisoning and domestic violence.

Kumunyi, a resident of Osungbade area of Ibadan, stated that her husband Olatunde does not cater for her and their four children.

She added that when the problem became too much for her to bear, she moved away with three of her children while the second child remained behind.

?My lord, about five years ago, our third child confided in me that she usually saw her father pouring some black substance into my own food whenever I was not there.

?I was shocked by this piece of information and confronted him with the revelation.

?Subsequently, I invited him to eat part of the food and he declined tasting from it.

?As if that was not enough, Olatunde regularly turned our first child and I to a punching bag anywhere he came across us.

?I also beg the court to grant me custody of the children because Olatunde will not adequately take care of them,? Kumunyi said.

However, Olatunde did not react to most of the allegations leveled against him, though he acknowledged payment of dowry to his wife?s parents.

Olatunde, a resident of Number 2 Olatunde Street, Police Post at Challenge in Ibadan, and who earned his living as a carpenter, gave a condition on the children?s upkeep.

He told the court that he would only be willing to pay N5,000 as the children?s monthly upkeep if the court refused to award him custody of the children.

?I want to take custody of the children because Kumunyi has the habit of maltreating the last two children.

?The second child with me had been going to school regularly,? Olatunde argued.

Delivering judgment, the court?s President, Mrs S.M. Akintayo, pronounced the marriage dissolved, stating that it was duly contracted judging from the evidence adduced by the duo.

Akintayo granted custody of the last three children to Kumunyi and directed Olatunde to pay a monthly feeding allowance of N20,000 for their monthly upkeep.

This was in addition to being responsible for their education and other welfare.

?The first child is 18 years of age and because he is an adult by law, he has the right to choose whoever to live with between his two parents.

?However, the petitioner must allow the respondent a reasonable access to the children,? she said.

The President of the court also granted an order restraining Olatunde from harassing, threatening, disturbing and interfering with the private life of Kumunyi henceforth. (NAN)