A
crowd besieged Araromi Street in Oshodi area of Lagos State on Friday after a
49-year-old man, Jafaru Sougie, allegedly killed his wife of 26 years.
The
suspect was said to have poisoned himself thereafter and was vomiting in the
bathroom when one of their children, Richmond, woke up.
Jafaru
had reportedly slit the wife’s throat with a knife around 2am but she was discovered
dead at 4am by Richmond and his aunt who raised the alarm.
The
Edo State indigene was reportedly rescued from a mob by policemen from the
Akinpelu division and was rushed to a hospital while the wife’s corpse was
deposited in a morgue.
Forty-six-year-old
Roselin sold frozen foods in the Ijora area and was said to be the breadwinner
of the family as the killer husband was jobless.
It was gathered that Jafaru had serially assaulted
Roseline on the grounds of being unfaithful.
Apart
from the infidelity allegation, he reportedly beat the mother of five children
for collecting gifts from her relatives for the upkeep of the family.
Richmond,
16, said that he could not explain what came over his father to have committed
the act, saying he started behaving strangely afterwards.
He
said, “My three siblings, our aunt and I slept in the living room while dad and
mum were inside. Around 4am, dad called me from the bathroom.
I
went to meet him but he did not say anything. I went outside to urinate and
when I came back, I checked the bathroom and saw him lying down, vomiting some
black substance and excreting on his body. I think he poisoned himself. I told
my aunt to wake mum up to attend to him. But she didn’t wake up.
“I
shone a flashlight on her and saw blood on the bed with a wide cut in her neck.
I fainted when we discovered she was dead. We later asked dad how it happened,
he said somebody entered and did it whereas the compound gate is always locked
in the night.
“It
was mum that took care of us. She was the one sponsoring my elder brother,
Collins, who just gained admission into a university in Abia State. I don’t
know our fate now.
“The
landlord of our former rented house on Michael Street sent us out because dad
always quarrelled with mum. We were also sent away from Banjoko Street for the
same reason.”
The
aunt, Veronica Imomoh, who confirmed the assault, said she was surprised the
woman did not scream during the attack.
She
added, “Our family had warned him to stop beating her. He didn’t have any work
and she was the one feeding him and paying the rent. Anytime she collected
gifts from her relatives, he quarrelled with her. He would accuse her of
sleeping with men and beat her up. There was a time he took her to our village
in Edo State to swear whether she was cheating on him or not and she did.
“Yesterday
(Thursday) he demanded N10,000 from the wife, saying he wanted to travel. She
was trying to raise the money from her friends. But I don’t know whether that
was the immediate cause of the incident.”
A
neighbour, Simeon Nnoron, said he had tried to prevail over Jafaru to stop
assaulting the deceased to no avail, adding that he suspected he was on drug
and wanted to use the woman for rituals.
Roselin’s
elder sister, Mrs. Kate Yakubu, said she had wanted to divorce the
husband two years ago but was enjoined to rescind the decision.
She
said, “They fought two years ago because he wanted her to stop selling the
frozen foods.
During
the argument, he held her in the neck and removed strands of hair from her head
with his teeth. She left the house for a week to live with his brother in
Masasa. She wanted to quit the marriage but we begged her not to because of the
children. There was a time he said he smelt sperm in her pants after she
returned from Seme where she normally bought goods.”
The
Deputy spokesperson, Lagos State Police Command, DSP Damasus Ozoani, said the
suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for
further investigation.
“It
was a murder case and the husband was suspected to be under the influence of
drug. The case has been transferred to the SCID and investigation has
commenced,” he said.
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