A 2am trip to the neighbour’s to ask for salt led to a man fronting court on domestic violence charges.
The Dili District court heard the alleged victim confronted her husband after the neighbour told her of his late night salt search.
The couple has been married for five years.
When he was unable to provide a satisfactory answer to why he needed salt at 2am, the alleged victim demanded a divorce.
The man gave no answer to his wife but hit her over her left ear and threw a rock at her leg.
He then retrieved pots and pans from the house which he continued to throw at his wife.
The woman told the court it wasn’t the first time the couple fought over her husband’s habit of asking people for salt, regardless of whether they had enough or not.
The defendant denied the charges against him as he claimed it was his wife who had started the violence.
He told the court his wife approached him with a piece of wood with the intention of attacking him but she was unsuccessful.
The prosecution asked for the defendant to be handed a suspended sentence while the defence called for their client to be let off with a warning as it was his first offence.
The case was adjourned and a verdict will be returned at a later date.
