The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 32-year-old bank worker, Olaoluwa Adejo, following the death of his 28-year-old wife, Maureen.
The incident happened at their home on Peluola Street, Oworonshoki, in the Bariga area of the state.
Adejo, a Lagos indigene was alleged to have tortured his wife of five years with a belt, as well as cutting her with a machete.
Their five-year- old son, Richard, in whose presence the incident reportedly happened, told Punch that his father also forced a local insecticide, otapiapia, down the throat of his mother.
“I am Richard Adejo . I am five years old. My daddy beat my mummy with a belt; machete her here (shows arms ), machete her here (shows legs ).
“He used the belt on her here
(points at face); forced my mummy to drink otapiapia (insecticide). My daddy took my mummy away.
Also speaking with the newspaper, the victim’s mother, Mrs. Kate Jonathan, said that the 5-year-old boy had given more graphic details of the incident to family members, police authorities and officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.
She said, “I was called on the telephone by an unknown number around 4 pm on Sunday, November 12. The caller said, ‘Your daughter’s husband has killed her at Oworo’. He dropped the call.
“Around 5 pm when I got to their house, I discovered that the house was locked up. There were two boys guarding the house and they refused to open the door to me, saying the owner of the house instructed them not to open the door.
“I didn’t see my daughter or her husband. I was begging them to open the door when I saw Richard jumping up through the window. He saw me and asked the boys to open the door , but they refused.
“I broke the louvers of the window.
“The boy climbed a stool and said from inside, ‘my father has killed my mother and taken her away.’”
According to her, she rushed to the Oworonshoki Police Station, where she was told that the suspect had already reported that his wife committed suicide by taking local insecticide, Sniper.
Jonathan said after making her statement, she left the station.
The suspected had already deposited the body of his wife in the Gbagada General Hospital mortuary and had allegedly gone to obtain court documents to enable him to bury her.
According to the report, he was asked to return to the police station for a certain document, which led to his arrest based on his mother – in – law’s complaint.
He has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.
The police reportedly ordered the removal of the corpse from the Gbagada General Hospital mortuary to the morgue of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
The couple had three children, namely, Richard, five; Henry, three; and Omowunmi, six months.
However, 83-year-old mother of the suspect, Florence Adejo , also denied that her son murdered his wife.
She said, “He came to knock on the door of my house late that night.
“He fell on the ground and started weeping and lamenting that his wife had destroyed him.
“A crowd gathered in front of the house where I am the landlady. They tried to console him. He said his wife took Sniper.”
The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, told the newspaper that investigations were ongoing into the incident.
He said, “The man came to report that his wife committed suicide.
“The DPO put some questions to him. We thought we should investigate further to know what really happened because there are some doubts we need to clear in the matter.
“The police are not accepting the claim of suicide hook, line, and sinker.
“The matter is at the SCIID and investigations are ongoing.”
