Court orders man’s arrest in wife, child neglect case

Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has ordered the arrest of one Mr Itoro Monday Uko in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the state for contempt of court.

Itoro Uko is said to have abandoned his wife and only child, a two-year-old girl, in the village to live with his girlfriend in Ikot Ekpene Town.

The presiding judge, Justice Ntong Ntong, gave the order after hearing Counsel for the applicant and mother of the child, Barrister Ekom Friday Inwang, following the absence of the contemnor and his Counsel.

The applicant, a private school teacher from Mkpat Enin Local Government Area told the court that apart from neglecting his responsibilities as a father in providing for the needs of his child, the respondent also refused to refund the N200,000 loan she collected for her husband to fix his car since March 2022.

She said they got married on January 18, 2020 and the marriage was blessed with the first child, after which she got pregnant for the second child when her husband started to beat her, resulting in her first miscarriage.

She also told the court that she got pregnant again for the third time and her husband continued to assault her, adding that she was rushed to a hospital where she spent three nights due to bleeding in May 2022, and her husband never showed up even one day. She added that it was her siblings who financed her medical bills.

She told the court that she had to travel to her village in Mkpat Enin for her mother to take care of her till she fully recovered and that throughout her stay, her husband did not call or visit.

Upon recovery on July 4, 2022, the applicant said she went to her husband’s family home in Itak Ikot Udo, where they were living, to find out why her husband did not visit but to her surprise, the keys to their apartment were changed and she could not enter the house to pick her clothes or that of her child.

Mrs Itoro Uko said she became aware after the birth of her first child that her husband was keeping multiple sex partners and efforts to get him changed proved abortive.

She said she became pregnant again for the third time, and the act of battery persisted, which prompted her in-laws to advise her to stay with her parents in Mkpat Enin to avoid being killed by her husband.

Counsel to the applicant urged the Court to order the arrest and detention of the respondent for being in contempt of the order of the Court made on April 6, 2023.

Justice Ntong granted the order and commanded “Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police and the Divisional Police Officer, Ikot Ekpene Division, their officers and men in the name of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the Inspector General of Police to cause the arrest and detention of Mr Itoro Monday Uko and produce him in court” and adjourned the case to Thursday, April 25, 2024, for hearing.