Posted by By MATTHEW DIKE and AMAKA OKPALA on
A seemingly long-drawn family squabble took a fatal turn in Surelere, Lagos last week when a pregnant woman stabbed another dead with a knife provoking disbelief and agony among residents.
A seemingly long-drawn family squabble took a fatal turn in Surelere, Lagos last week when a pregnant woman stabbed another dead with a knife provoking disbelief and agony among residents.
Mrs. Jennifer Okoye's tragic death at her home in Jinadu Street, Pako, Surulere, was the climax of a domestic squabble between her and her equally pregnant sub-tenant, Nkechi.
Although report of what transpired is still pretty one-sided, as a result of the non-availability of the murder suspect and her husband, the deceased husband, Kenneth, was also, said to have been mercilessly beaten by the husband of the murder suspect, Emmanuel.
According to the deceases husband, medical reports confirmed that Jennifer would have been delivered of her fourth baby on July 2, a week after her death.
Painting a graphic picture of the cause of the incident, Okoye, a banker, said he was living happily with his family until Jennifer advised him to sublet one of the rooms in their three-bedroom flat to Emmanuel.
Jennifer's brother, he explained further, introduced Emmanuel to him as a prospective tenant. According to him, Emmanuel initially presented himself as a peace-loving gentleman.
The banker said he collected N2,000 per month as rent for one year and an agreement fee, all of which totaled N45,000. Emmanuel packed in with his wife, Nkechi and her brother in June 2007, Okoye said.
Trouble allegedly crept in when Okoye found out that the new tenant was allegedly smoking Indian hemp in the house. All efforts to stop him from his alleged bad habit, Okoye said, proved abortive.
Within six months, both parties had dragged each other to Ijesha and Itire police stations, which made the Okoyes to insist that Emmanuel and his family must leave on the expiration of their rent on June 30m 2008.
The bereaved husband told Daily Sun that before he returned from work on June 23, Emmanuel and Nkechi had turned his pregnant wife into a punching bag. 'I had to take my wife to a nearby clinic for treatment," the bereaved husband stated.
The following day, Okoye said he got an urgent call from his wife, urging him to return home immediately. He told Daily Sun that he saw both Emmanuel and Nkechi attacking his pregnant wife.
His words: 'I saw Emmanuel and Nkechi beating my wife while their relation helped them. My wife was pregnant and I just brought her back from the hospital after these same people attacked her. I tried to hold my wife to save her from further battering, but Emmanuel grabbed my neck and restrained me. He later hit me with an object and I started bleeding profusely.
'He was still attacking me when my wife saw blood on my head. She rushed to save me from Emmanuel. But Emmanuel hit her in the stomach with his elbow and she staggered and fell down.
'As if that was not enough, Nkechi ran inside the room and came out with a knife. Before I could stop her, she had stabbed my wife close to the ribs. My wife fell down and died. She butchered my wife like a ram."
Policemen from Ijesha police station were said to have visited the scene immediately and moved the corpse to a public mortuary.
Both Emmanuel and Nkechi were unable to tell their own side of the story, given that they have been arrested and are cooling their heels in a cell at the, State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID). Their alleged accomplice relative is, however is yet to be apprehended.