Court fines man for snatching neighbour’s wife

[Mirror]

An Upper Area Court II in Kabong suburb of Jos, the Plateau State capital yesterday passed a judgment directing one Alhaji Suleiman Gbadamosi to return the two children he forcefully took from Mike Adang when he lured his wife into marriage.

The Court also ordered Gbadamosi to pay a fine of N50, 35O for the offence committed, while ruling that the wife in question can decide to stay with Gbadamosi if she so desires.

Delivering the Judgment, which came after seven years of hearing, the Chief Magistrate, Justice Ladi Madaki, said based on the evidence before the court, there was a legal customary marriage between Mercy and Mike Adang and the marriage was blessed with three children before Mercy abandoned her legitimate husband and married Gbadamosi in 2005. Justice Madak stressed that Mercy was carrying Mike's baby when they got married according to native law and custom in the early 90s.

When Mike's house was burnt during the 2001 crisis in Jos, Mercy decided to go and stay with her aunt in Tudu Wada, a suburb in Jos the state capital with the three children of the marriage.

While living with her aunt, Mercy met Gbadamosi and abandoned Mike. After a short while, she moved to Gbadamosi's house with her three children and changed their names to Islamic names.

Thus, Matilda M. Adang became Zainab Suleiman Gbadamosi, Mishim Azi Adang became Nasiru Suleiman Gbadamosi while the third child left before he was renamed. According to the Judge, contrary to the claims of the first and second defendants (Mercy and Gbadamosi) that there was no marriage between Mike and Mercy and that they had no children at the time they were together, it is evident before the court that Mike and Mercy were married in accordance to the customs and traditions of the Izere, where they both hail from.

Mike Adang legally married Mercy since he had satisfied the customs and traditions of Afizere people by paying the sum of N500 Naira as bride price, as stipulated by Afizere custom and offered other marriage items as Afizere tradition demands.

Justice Madaki noted with regret that it was unfortunate that Mercy Adang was a promiscuous and materialistic woman, who went after other men and had extra marital affairs with Gbadamosi, which led her to eventually deny her legitimate husband because of material things. The court described the first defendant (Mercy, now known as Fatima) as "a promiscuous woman for having intercourse with another man after being traditionally and legally married."

Similarly, the biological mother of the first defendant who had testified before the court during cross examination of witnesses and denied knowledge of any marriage contract between Mike and Mercy, was described by the magistrate as "a shameless old woman"

According to Justice Madaki, the supposed mother in-law acted irresponsibly by denying her son-in-law publicly because he is not financially rich. The 7-year legal battle between Mike, Mercy and Gbadamosi ended in favour of the plaintiff (Mike Adang), with Gbadamosi and Mercy fined the sum of N50, 350 to be paid to Mr. Adang as appearance charges of his counsel. Responding, counsel to the defendants, Barrister Ansho said he will discuss with his clients, study the Judgment and may appeal against the decision of the court. He also objected to the payment of the fine since his client still has another opportunity to appeal the judgement.

National Mirror