The Petitioner filed the Petition on 13th January, 2022 praying for the reliefs below:
1. That the marriage with Respondent be dissolved forthwith.
2. Custody of the children granted to Respondent with reasonable access of visitation granted to the Petitioner on vacations, holidays and weekends.
3. That Petitioner may have any further or other reliefs as this court may deem fit.
Parties were lawfully married on 15th January, 2000 at Revival Foundation Church International at Banana Inn, Accra. Thereafter the parties cohabited at Agege, Dansoman and later Banana Inn. The Petitioner is a Teacher and the Respondent a Printer and Supplier of books to schools.
There are two issues of the marriage namely Joshua Bill (18years) and Alberta Bill (16years). There has been no court proceedings in respect this marriage.
PETITIONER’S CASE
It is Petitioner’s case that the marriage has broken down beyond reconciliation as a result of the unreasonable behaviour of the Respondent. That the marriage has been a painful venture for her and that she has had to solely provide to support the household.
Petitioner testified that the Respondent started drinking, staking lotto, watching pornographic films and few others in the course of their marriage and that she could not cope with it emotionally. Thus she tried talking to Respondent’s family members to intervene and resolve those problems but nothing fruitful came out. Further to that, she was down with a mild stroke in the year 2020 and when she complained, the Respondent told her that she was not trained well. Also, the Respondent told her that there were a lot of women who could pay her off to take away the Respondent. She was emotionally traumatized by those statements from the Respondent and resolved to move on with her life.
Then again, the parties live in Respondent’s family house and anything she said was misinterpreted by Respondent’s siblings and mother.
RESPONDENT’S CASE
The Respondent was served with the Petition by Substituted Service per an Order of the Court dated 19th August, 2022 and he filed an Answer to the Petition on 4th October, 2022. In his answer, Respondent admitted to drinking occasionally as a result of the emotional and psychological trauma cause by the Petitioner’s incessant complaint and nagging. He also admitted staking lotto occasionally as a means of generating alternative revenue to support the household. However, Respondent denied the averment that he did not support the family or
