The trial of Gentry Olanrewaju, the estranged husband of Nollywood star actress, Mercy Aigbe at an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court, Ogba, was Wednesday stalled owing to the absence of his wife.
Although Gentry was in court Wednesday, accompanied by some associates, Mercy Aigbe was reportedly said to have travelled out of the country.
Officials of the Lagos State Domestic Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and Gentry met with the trial Chief Magistrate Folakemi Davies-Abegunde behind closed door in her chamber and agreed on June 7 for the estranged couple to appear before the court.
Gentry, dressed in a navy blue coloured buba and sokoto with a matching sandal sat at the back of the court room in-between family members and associates.
When he stepped out of the court into the lobby, same family members and associates stepped out with him and ensured that nobody come close to him.
Chief Magistrate Court Folakemi Davies-Abegunde had fixed Wednesday for Gentry to show cause why he should not be “restrained permanently” from coming close to his wife, Mercy Aigbe.
Mercy Aigbe, on the other hand, is expected to tender before the court, through her counsel, Adeola Falade, the medical report of the alleged domestic violence meted on her by her estranged husband.
A social worker with the Lagos State Domestic abd Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), Adeola Falade had on April 28 approached the court, on behalf of Mercy Aigbe, to ask for restraining order against Gentry over alleged violence against his wife.
In their application, Falade alleged that Gentry had gone to his wife’s tailor’s place “to attack and beat her mercilessly “.
To prove the case, Falade had tendered five photographs and copies of the medical scanned report of the applicant.
She had the applied for the restraining order in line with sections 5(1), 1(3) and section 7(1) of Protection Against Domestic Violence and Connected Purposes Law 2007.
In her ruling on the matter at last sitting of the court, Chief Magistrate Davies-Abegunde had restrained Gentry “from going anywhere within one mile radius of the applicant (Mercy Aigbe) and the two children in her custody”.
The court’s decision was based on a 25 paragraph affidavit filed by the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), the photographic evidence of the domestic violence and the scan report from a medical centre already before the court.
” The respondent, Mr Olanrewaju Gentry of No 14 Oregun Street, off Epe Close, Oregun, Ikeja is hereby restrained from committing any further acts of domestic violence against the applicant with immediate effect “, Chief Magistrate Abegunde-Davies ordered.
