A mother of three children, left with the sole responsibility of taking care of them, is planning to take her husband to court so she can get financial support.

She said she was forced to leave her husband because whenever they had an argument he got into a rage and beat her.

"My husband was both cruel and unkind to me so I had to move out and leave him," the woman said.

"I separated from my husband nine months now and, since then, he has not given me any money for our three children. I telephoned him and asked him for money for the children but he has refused to give me.

"It is not my fault that I had to leave him. He was the one who used to beat me mercilessly each time we had an argument. If he said anything to me, and I answered him, he flew into a rage, grabbed me by my hair and used his fist to punch me all over my body.

"I could not live with a man like that and, furthermore, I did not want my three young children to grow up in such an environment. My husband is working and all I want him to do is to support his children. It is not fair for me alone to take care of the children when they have a father who can afford to support them.

"I am thinking of taking him to court but some of my relatives say I should be careful that he does not hurt me. I told them he will have to hurt me because it is his duty to take care of his children," she said.

The Maintenance Act places a duty on parents to support their children. Parents who refuse to maintain their children can be taken to court where orders will be made for them to do so. Section 9 of the Act states, in part, that "each parent has an obligation to provide support for the child".