Inside Lagos: 45-Yr-Old Man Remanded For Killing Wife Over Sachet Water

Lawrence Itakpe, 49, has been charged with murdering his wife Rebecca at their home in the Lagos County community of Ajah. He was arraigned before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court.

According to reports, the suspect and the dead, who had been married for 11 years and had two children, quarreled about sachet water.

In the process, the suspect went into the kitchen and emerged with a kitchen knife, with which he allegedly stabbed his wife many times in the chest and neck.

A security guard was claimed to have knocked on the couple’s door while the argument was on, but the defendant allegedly refused to open the door.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Haruna Magaji, told the court that the defendant committed the offense on December 5, 2022.

Lawrence was arraigned on one count of murder.

The charge read, “That you, Lawrence Itakpe, on December 5, 2022, around 5 pm at 50, Abimbola Street, Seaside Estate, Badore Ajah, Lagos State, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully slaughter one Rebecca Itakpe, aged 47, thereby committing an offense punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”

Magaji asked the court to remand the defendant in custody for 30 days pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Granting the request, the presiding Chief Magistrate, O.Y. Adefope, adjourned the case till January 31, 2023.