Uchenna Patrick Ogbonna, a 42-year-old father of three, has refused to honour a five-month long police invitation, following allegations of domestic violence made by Precious Ogbonna, his wife.

In the 12-year period of their marriage, Precious said Ogbonna did not only beat her up regularly but also once physically assaulted her mother and sister.

When Precious’ traditional marriage rites took place at her hometown in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, little did she know she was signing up for a union she would later describe as “a hell on earth, filled with pains, sorrow and emotional torture”.

In a live interview with NigeriaInfo FM, Precious said she met Ogbonna through his sister and that they only dated for about four months before tying the knot in 2010.

YEARS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE

During the programme, Precious narrated how Ogbonna beat and harassed her multiple times to the extent that members of the landlord association in their area at NNPC Estate, Ejigbo, Lagos State, as well as many other concerned residents were compelled to intervene.

But all the efforts made by fellow residents to dissuade Ogbonna from further assaulting her proved futile. Precious also said that on several occasions, her husband beat her with canes and any other item he could lay his hands on. She said he also has two guns — a pistol and a double barrel — and that he would regularly use them to physically assault and violate her.

Precious said Ogbonna once physically assaulted her up to a point that he stripped her naked, aimed his pistol at her private parts, snapped some pictures and then sent them to her family members. He was also said to have sent the pictures with an allegation that she was cheating on him.

Ogbonna had also on several occasions taken her to different native doctors in Ogun and Enugu states, among other places, to swear an oath of fidelity. According to Precious, “He said I would run mad if I engaged in extra marital affairs.”

According to the Imo State indigene, her husband never took part in any of the oath-taking rites. Whenever she asked to know why, he would say such rites were only for women, not men.

Following the series of abuse, Precious was later forced to get a pair of recommended glasses due to the multiple injuries she had sustained around the lens and optic nerves of her eyes.

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“Right from the first year of marriage, each time my husband had financial challenges, he claimed I was the one responsible,” Precious said while recounting her harrowing experience.

“He used a lot of things to beat me. Sometimes a cane or his gun. He has this long double barrel gun and a pistol he used to hit me. If he’s beating me with his hand, and he sees that it’s not enough, he will use anything within range to beat me.

“It’s not something that happened once or twice. It happened every time. And I got used to it. After beating me, he would throw me out, and I would go to my sister’s place to stay. After a while, he would come and apologise.”

THE FINAL STRAW

After enduring domestic violence in Ogbonna’s hands for several years, she finally decided she had had enough when Ogbonna pointed a gun at her on one occasion and threatened to kill her.

She said Ogbonna had said he would “kill her and nothing would happen” afterwards.

“I was scared because he has friends who are top, high ranking police officers,” she said.

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The heavy pummelling she received from her husband on that day rendered her unconscious. When she eventually regained consciousness, she ran out of the house in the middle of the night, leaving her children behind, as Ogbonna chased after her.

Since running out of the house for safety five months ago, she has not seen her three children aged eleven, seven, and five respectively.

After deciding she had had enough in May, Precious reached out to the Gnosis Help Initiative, a non-governmental organisation that helps victims of domestic violence and abusive relationship or marriages, seeking justice and recovery of her children from their father.

Olumide Kayode-Omosebi, the founder of the NGO and a lawyer, told FIJ that the case is now with the Force CID at Alagbon, Lagos State.