A PLUMBER in Accra, Charles Akunnye, who hit his wife on the head with an iron bar while she was asleep, rendering her unconscious, was on Friday sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour by the Accra Community Tribunal.

Akunnye meted out the cruel treatment to his wife, Mary Asibi, as a punishment for ignoring his order to help him search for a cake of soap that night. He pleaded guilty to causing harm.

Prosecuting, Inspector Alice Yeboah, told the tribunal chaired by Mr Kwaku Owusu that for the past three months, the accused often came back home from work drunk, and subjected his wife to severe beatings at the least provocation.

The prosecution said at one time, the accused was arrested by the police after he had severely beaten up his wife without provocation.

The prosecution said that during investigations, however, his wife told the police that they had settled the matter and reconciled. She also pleaded with the police not to prosecute him.

However, the prosecution said that on May 16, 2002, while his wife was asleep, the accused who was again drunk, woke her up and told her that he had combed the house without success for a particular soap which was meant for the treatment of skin diseases and asked her to help him ask her to help him find it.

Mary was said to have told him that she had not seen the soap either and went back to sleep. This, the prosecution said, angered the accused who reached for an iron bar which he used to hit the woman on the head, and left her unconscious in a pool of blood.

The tribunal heard that the woman, who sustained a deep cut on the head, was later revived at the Police Hospital in Accra where she was admitted and has since been discharged.