Due to dispute a
43-year-old teacher, Gbemisola Edward, and her 11-year-old daughter, Dolapo,
have been confirmed dead at an Ogun State hospital after suffering from severe
burns.
On Thursday, August 25, at
Augustine street, Ire Akari estate, in the Ifo local government area of Ogun state
a tragic incident occurred.
According to PUNCH, the
woman’s husband, Joshua, was said to have poured petrol on her, their daughter,
and his seven-year-old son, Samson, and set fire on them.
The son of the couple,
16-year-old, Joshua Babatunde who barely escaped, said his stepfather had
wanted his mother to sell their three-bedroomed apartment, but she refused.
He said: “It was the scream
of my mother that woke me up. Dolapo and Samson were also set ablaze. I wanted
to put out the fire when my stepfather poured petrol on me as well. Before he
returned with matches, I managed to escape and reported at the Ifo Police
Station.
He was working with a
factory but was sacked some months ago. He then told my mother to sell the
house so that he could use the money to start a business. But my mother said
she would never sell the house she struggled to build.
We moved into the house in
January. The following month, he and Samson started living with us. It was a
woman at our former residence in Iyana Ipaja (Lagos State) that bore Samson for
him. He used to beat mum while we were in Iyana Ipaja.”
The culprit, Joshua fled
the area, immediately the incident happened. The victims however were rushed to
Aron Hospital, a private facility in the area. The daughter, Dolapo died a few
minutes after she got to the hospital while the mother died on Friday, August
26. The son, Samson, who has burns in the head, hands and legs, is still
responding to treatment.
The woman’s brother, Wale,
said she had always been abused by the husband, he also said that the constant
beatings forced her to relocate from Iyana Ipaja to Ifo.
He said: “Their
relationship had been fraught with quarrels since when he was living with my
sister in our house at Iyana Ipaja. There was a time he threatened to kill her
with a machete. He stole her money and fled.
When he knew my sister had
built a house, he went there to reconcile with her. She insisted that they
needed to go to the registry which they did in February. I visited my sister
two weeks ago. She said her husband had been threatening her again and that she
had told him to leave by the end of August.
It was on Thursday
afternoon that I got a call that he set her and the children ablaze.”
Dr. Kayode Ayoola, who is
the managing director of Aron Hospital, said: “The burns were serious. The girl
died about 10 minutes after she was admitted, while her mother died the
following day. The boy’s condition is relatively okay but nobody is ready to
take care of him.”
The Ogun state police
command’s acting spokesperson, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command had launched
an investigation and a manhunt for the man.
He said: “We learnt the man
and his wife had a quarrel over the ownership of the house they lived in. While
the family was asleep, the man poured patrol on the living room and set it
ablaze. As a result, the woman and the two children suffered first degree
burns. The Commissioner of Police has ordered that the suspect be fished out.
He can only run, he cannot hide.”
Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment