Posted by By NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha on
A top female politician her husband, and their three children are now cooling off at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Anambra State Police Command for their alleged involvement in the gruesome murder of a 45-year-old woman, Mrs. Benedeth Ohagwusi.
•Bereaved hubby cries for justice
A top female politician her husband, and their three children are now cooling off at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Anambra State Police Command for their alleged involvement in the gruesome murder of a 45-year-old woman, Mrs. Benedeth Ohagwusi.
The incident, according to a dependable police source, occurred at about 10.30 p.m. on Sunday, August 19, when fracas ensued between the deceased and her family on one side, and the suspects on the other side.
According to the source, the late Mrs. Ohagwusi, a hotelier residing with her family at No. 59B Corporative Lane, Okpoko in Ogbaru Council area of the state, had just finished preparing some quantities of iced fish for her next day's business and laid down on top of a soak-away slab to rest when some unidentified fellow tenants allegedly poured water on her from the third floor of the three-storey building.
As the deceased and her husband, Abel Ohagwusi, were still protesting the act, the suspects allegedly poured another bucket, prompting the victims to start shouting the names of the suspects and warning them to refrain from the act.
The shouting, the source further stated, resulted in the suspects climbing down from their third floor apartment to engage the victim in a physical combat.
As the fight progressed, the source disclosed that the suspects, who were allegedly armed with matchets, bottles, pestle and other weapons, unknown to the victims, allegedly inflicted matchet injuries on the deceased first before clubbing her to death with the pestle.
According to the source, the suspects fled as the deceased slumped and became unconscious. Some of the suspects were said to have run upstairs and locked themselves in, while others ran out of the compound for fear of arrest or possible reprisal attacks from other tenants. The deceased later died in a private hospital shortly after she was admitted.
All the five suspects were rounded up the next morning from their different hideouts by a joint team of policemen from Okpoko police station and Okpoko vigilante group and were detained for some days before being transferred to the state CID.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Okpoko, Mr. Tafida Sale (CSP), who simply confirmed the incident and arrest of the suspects to Daily Sun in a telephone chat, said they had been transferred to the state CID for thorough investigations.
The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Fidelis Agbo (DSP), who confirmed the arrest, said investigations were still in progress. Agbo, however, noted that he was yet to be properly furnished with the detailed reports of the incident, as at the time of filing this report yesterday.
The bereaved husband of the deceased, Abel Ohagwusi who hails from Umuduru Egbeaguru in Onuimo council area of Imo State spoke to Daily Sun yesterday, amidst tears and wailing, and called on the appropriate government authorities to ensure that proper justice prevail in this circumstance.