In the Adekaa community,
Gboko, 33-year-old Joshua Terkaa-Uhir, allegedly stabbed his wife, Lucy, to
death with an axe after accusing the mother of two of extramarital affairs.
Two homes met fatal ends in
the Gboko area of Benue State, and Oto-Awori area of Lagos State, on Sunday,
after two spouses took the law into their own hands to protest against their partners’
alleged acts of infidelity.
In a similar incident, a
woman, Folashade Idoko, stabbed her husband, Lawrence, to death with a knife
after the latter allegedly received a telephone call from a suspected female
lover at their home in Ayetoro, Oto-Awori.
While Joshua has been
declared wanted by the Benue State Police Command, Folashade has been arrested
and detained by the Lagos State Police Command.
In the first incident,
PUNCH Metro gathered that Joshua and Lucy had been married for about six years
and their marriage was blessed with two children.
However, the union was
reported to be fraught with disagreements over some petty issues which always
resulted in fisticuffs.
Our correspondent learnt
that matters took a turn for the worse last week when Joshua suddenly collapsed
after claiming he saw two mysterious cats in their home.
The wife was alleged to
have separated from him after the suspect started hallucinating and claiming
some people were demanding blood from him.
Their two children were
also said to have been relocated to a relative’s house over safety concerns.
The mother of two, however,
on Sunday went back to the house to take some clothes when the husband shut the
door against her and beat her up after a heated argument.
He was alleged to have used
an axe to stab her in the neck and immediately fled through the window.
The victim was rushed to
the Gboko General Hospital where she was confirmed dead by a doctor.
PUNCH Metro gathered that
Joshua was working as a commercial bus driver before he was sacked three months
ago by the bus owner. He later became a motorboy to a tanker driver.
The wife, Lucy, a
hairdresser, had a salon.
A neighbour of the couple
at their house on Joseph Tyagh Street, Adekaa, Gboko, Aga-Samuel Barti, told
one of our correspondents on Monday that the couple argued for about three
hours on the day of the incident.
He said, “Before this
incident, the family had been going through some issues. Last week Thursday,
around 2am, I got a call to bring my car to pick the man. I was told he was
dead.
“When I got to their
apartment, I discovered that he actually collapsed. We rushed him to a hospital
where he was resuscitated. The wife later told me that the husband woke up and
claimed he saw two cats at their door, summoning him. She said he suddenly
passed out. I told them to be prayerful.
“Eventually, the woman ran
away from the house. She started telling people that her husband was saying
some people asked him to bring blood. She took their two children to her
sister’s place and did not return.
“She showed up at the house
again on Sunday afternoon. She was alone with the husband in the house when
they had an argument. As neighbours, we thought it was their usual
disagreement, because they always fought like that. But it went on for about
three hours.”
Barti told PUNCH Metro that
the younger brother of the suspect, who was visiting, was asked to wait outside
pending when the matter would be resolved.
The source said after
sometime, the argument degenerated into a fight, adding that no one could
access the apartment because the door had been locked.
He explained that the noise
later stopped as neighbours thought that the issues had been resolved.
“When nobody came out of
the room, we had suspicions and broke the door. That was when we saw the woman
in a pool of blood with a gash in her neck. The window at the back of the room
was wide open and the man had disappeared,” he added.
Barti said before the
incident, Joshua had been accusing the wife of maintaining an extramarital
affair, adding that it was the reason
for their argument.
He noted that the victim’s
father, Daniel Akighir, later arrived at the scene and took the daughter’s body
to a hospital.
Akighir told PUNCH Metro
that Lucy was confirmed dead at the Gboko General Hospital, adding that
policemen from the Gboko Central Division visited the scene and recovered the
bloodstained axe and a hammer.
He said he was unaware of
any issues of spiritual attack or infidelity in the family.
He said, “I only remember
that last Friday, my daughter and her husband came to my house to resolve some
issues they had. My daughter complained that the husband was maltreating her.
She said he always came back home late and he was not feeding the family.
“And I agreed with her
because she always came to my house with their two children every Sunday for
food. I asked her to stay away from him for some time.
“On Sunday, my daughter
went to the house after church service to pack some clothes. She went there
alone. I asked her husband’s younger brother who stayed with me, to also join
her.
“They (the couple) were
talking in the house when he suddenly locked the door and started beating her
till he killed her.”
Akighir recalled that his
daughter had left Joshua three years ago after he assaulted her publicly.
He noted that the suspect
had prostrated and promised not to touch his wife again before the matter was
resolved.
While calling for justice
for Lucy, Akighir urged the police to hasten investigation and release her
corpse to the family for burial.
The Benue State Police
Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, confirmed the incident.
He said, “Detectives who
visited the scene recovered a bloodstained axe, which is suspected to be the
murder weapon. We cannot say categorically the reason for their fight since the
suspect is on the run. But the matter is under investigation and efforts are on
to apprehend the man.”
Meanwhile, Kosoko Street,
Ayetoro, in the Oto-Awori area of Lagos State, was solemn on Monday, after
Folashade stabbed her husband, Lawrence, to death.
It was learnt that the
couple, who had been married for four years, had been involved in intense
fights before the incident happened around 11pm on Sunday.
The couple have two kids –
a three-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl – together.
PUNCH Metro gathered that,
Lawrence, an engineer with Greater Inspection and Industrial Services, at Sango
Ota, Ogun State, returned home that day after a week-long official duty in the
Ikorodu area.
The wife reportedly accused
him of engaging in extra-marital affair and an argument ensued.
In a fit of anger,
Folashade reportedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her husband in the
leg.
It was gathered that the
deceased had lost a lot of blood by the time neighbours responded to the cries
of the couple’s three-year old son.
The Benue State indigene
was rushed to a hospital, New Ayetoro Medical Centre, where he died.
Our correspondent learnt
that the police from the Ijanikin division were alerted to the incident and
Folashade was arrested.
A neighbour of the couple,
who did not identify herself, said they always fought and reconciled.
She said, “I heard her
calling for help late Sunday night. Their son was also crying. When I got
there, I saw the man in a pool of blood. My husband and I took the man to a
hospital. While he was there, I went back to their house to check what really
happened. Their apartment was filled with blood. I later saw a bloodstained
knife, which I supposed she used in stabbing him.
“They usually fight and
settle and that is why people don’t interfere in their disagreements. Their
fights always bothered on infidelity. The fight of yesterday (Sunday) was
caused by the issue of girlfriend. She said the man was calling his girlfriend.
“She collected the phone
from him and started abusing the person on the phone without even checking who
she was talking to. They started abusing each other and went physical.”
Another neighbour, Mrs.
Blessing Olokpobri, said Folashade, an auxiliary nurse, was aggressive and
violent, adding that people always tried to avoid having issues with her.
She said, “There was hardly
a day they didn’t fight if the husband was at home. On January 1 this year when
everybody was celebrating the New Year, they fought. There was a time she went
to meet him at a beer parlour. She dragged and stripped him. There was even a
time she sliced his ear lobes with a broken bottle and it had to be stitched.”
The landlord, Chief Gani
Akanni, the Balogun of Ayetoro, said he served the couple a notice to quit in
December 2016, after he tried in vain to
stop their incessant fights.
“I was begged by the other
tenants to withdraw the notice. There was a time I also took the woman to the
police station because she vandalised my property after I locked up the
tenants’ rooms for defaulting in payment of LAWMA bills. It was unfortunate because
the husband was such a quiet and peaceful man,” he added.
An aunt of the deceased and
human rights activist, Betty Abah, said it was unfortunate that spousal abuse
continued to take a toll on partners.
She said the family would
have intervened in the troubled marriage, but Lawrence hid his marital crisis
from them.
“My nephew, like many men
and women who die daily in violent relationships, would have been alive if had
fled such a deadly marriage. We will ensure that justice is done. This is
another young and promising life deliberately cut short. Persons suffering
domestic violence should always call out for help. It is indeed a big tragedy
for us,” Abah added.
The Lagos State Police
Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Famous-Cole, confirmed that the suspect was
in custody, adding that the case was under investigation.
While stressing that the
command was looking at a murder charge, he said the suspect would be
transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department,
Yaba.
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