Wife, child abandonment: Court orders arrest of man

Ini Billie, Uyo

The Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has ordered the arrest of one Mr Itoro Monday Uko for failing to appear in court over the case of abandoning his wife and only child.

It was learnt that Uko abandoned his wife and a two-year-old daughter in his village, in Itak Ikot Udo, Ikot Ekpene, to live with his girlfriend in Ikot Ekpene town.

His failure to appear in court alongside his counsel, led the Presiding Judge, Justice Ntong Ntong to issue an arrest order on the request of counsel to the applicant and mother of the child, Barrister Ekom Friday Inwang.

The defendant’s wife, Mrs Uko, told the court that apart from neglecting his responsibilities as a father in providing for the needs of his child, the respondent refused to refund the N200,000 loan she collected for him to fix his car since March 2022.

The applicant stated that she had a miscarriage due to domestic violence, and was again rushed to a hospital after another case of battery which led to bleeding in May 2022 during her third pregnancy.

She noted that her husband never came to visit her in the hospital for the three days she spent there, adding that it was her siblings who paid her medical bills.

According to her, her husband had changed the keys to their apartment, such that she could not enter the house to pick up her clothes and that of her child after returning to her husband’s family home in Itak Ikot Udo, where they lived.

She explained that she had travelled to her village in Mkpat Enin for her mother to nurse her back to health. Mrs Uko added that her in-laws had advised her to stay with her parents in Mkpat Enin to avoid being killed by her husband.

Upon the request of the counsel to the applicant, Justice Ntong directed the “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”.