Growns v Growns

• Jurisdiction: Montserrat
• Court: High Court (Montserrat)
• Judge: Berridge, J.
• Judgment Date: 10 March 1969
• Neutral Citation: MS 1969 HC 2
• Docket Number: March 10, 1969
• Date: 10 March 1969

Growns

and

Growns

Berridge, J.

March 10, 1969

West Indies Associated States Supreme Court. High Court

Family Law - Husband and wife — Divorce

Held: The husband was cruel towards the wife. The act of sexual intercourse after those incidents of cruelty condoned the respondent's conduct, but the respondent's cruelty was revived by later acts. The plaintiff established cruelty on the part of the respondent. Order made that there be a decree nisi granted to the plaintiff on the ground of cruelty.

Facts: The wife filed an application for divorce. The issue was whether cruelty on the part of the husband was proven by the wife.

JUDGMENT:

1 The petitioner and the respondent were married in the County of Kent, England on 20 ^th March 1956. The petitioner was previously a widow while the respondent had his previous marriage dissolved. Subsequently both parties lived together in England then Canada and finally in Montserrat where the respondent continued on his occupation as a builder.

2 The petitioner alleges that they eventually came to this island in1964 with hopes that their marriage relations, which had deteriorated for some time, would improve but the respondent's story is that they did so because he could command a larger income here in that he only worked in Canada during the summer time.

3 Over the years from 1962 the wife found it necessary to seek medical aid in respect of one ailment or another and had to receive major stomach surgery here for a hysterectomy. In addition she had a stomach complaint commencing in 1967 for which she was treated by Dr Bishop who stated that his findings were that it was keeping and related to domestic stress. She also suffered from cystitis an infection of the bladder, which the doctor says, is a complaint common to women causing discomfort and would limit sexual activity and that a patient is advised not to indulge in it.

4 The wife is seeking a dissolution of her marriage on the grounds of cruelty consequent upon the fact that the husband would drink to excess, become very drunk, go into violent tempers and strike and abuse her: further, she alleges that the husband refused to lead a normal married life with her, that marital relations between them were practically non-existent and that as a matter of fact from 1964 to date they had had intercourse approximately half a dozen times. The wife further complains that the husband who is hard of hearing accuses her, when he is in a temper, of speaking quietly so that he cannot hear or understand her. She also complains that at times he would be sullen for days - as much as a week – and wouldn't speak.

5 The wife complains that one evening in early January 1965 the husband was very drunk after a party; when they got home he struck her with his fist knocking her to the ground, threw hot water over her, panicked and fled in his underwear on to the front gallery. She locked the door in fear and the husband smashed it with his fist cutting an artery in his arm.

6 The husband does not deny the breaking of the glass door but alleges that in trying to stop the wife nagging him she threw a glass candlestick at him and slapped and scratched him causing him to run out of the house in the nude. He went to say that he was refused admission back into the house and being embarrassed he broke the glass door with his fist there being nothing on the patio with which to do it, while the burrs in the grass around prevented him from endeavouring to obtain a stone with which to do so or to travel around the house to see if the back door was open.

7 The wife complains of an incident in 1967 when on going home after a picnic at which the husband got very drunk he drove at a reckless speed and threatened to kill them both by driving them over a cliff. She became frightened as he drove close to the cliff reached for the emergency break, stopped the car and insisted that she drove whereupon the husband got out of the car screaming, refused to get back in whereupon she drove off and left him standing.

8 The husband's version of this incident is that the wife was berating him and he told her that if he was that low he would drive over the cliff and end it all but that he had no intention of doing so.

9 The husband denies allegations of cruelty and has cross petitioned alleging cruelty and excessive sexual demands by the wife upon him and further that she reviled and mocked him when he was unable to meet those demands.

10 The husband alleges that about September 1966 the wife started nagging him jammed on the brake sand caused him to hit his head. He got out of the car and she drove back to the Anchorage and picked him up some 1 ¹/₂ hours later on the road....