FIVE ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE OF ADULTERY IN COURT IN NIGERIA

It is noteworthy that, not all evidence are admissible or acceptable in the Court of law. This edition of the Legal Illumination of Akintunde Esan known as the Legal Adviser Online is on the five acceptable or admissible evidence to prove adultery in a divorce case in Court in Nigeria.

It is axiomatic that adultery is essentially an act which can rarely be proved by direct evidence. It is a matter of inference and circumstances. The law has thus, set down certain conditions from which adultery can be inferred and these are:

1. Evidence of disposition and opportunity for sexual intercourse with a person other than the spouse; 

2. General cohabitation - Where it is established that there is a state of general cohabitation between a man and a woman, adultery is presumed between them;

3. Confession and admission of adultery;

4. Entry in Register of Birth - Entry of birth by the wife which omits the name of the child's father or simply gives a name other than the husband amounts to an admission of adultery; and 

5. Frequent visits to hotels 

Erhahon Vs Erhahon (1997) 6 NWLR (pt 510) 667 and Alabi Vs Alabi (2008) All FWLR (Pt 418) 245. Per Abiru ,J.C.A in Ibeabuchi v. Ibeabuchi (2016) LPELR-41268(CA)  (Pp. 32-33 paras. F)

For more legal illumination or legal advice on the legal aspect of adultery or the acceptable or admissible evidence of adultery in Court in Nigeria you may contact Akintunde Esan (The Legal Adviser Online) via his:

Email: akintundeesan@gmail.com. 

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