, laments man accused of beating his wife to death

Homicide detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos are battling to unearth the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a middle-aged housewife and mother, Justina Mebele of Number 2, Oremeji Street, Oshodi, Lagos.

The death of the housewife is more intriguing as a result of allegations that it was her husband, John Mebele that beat her to death inside their room on November 17, 2008. The report made at the Police station after the woman gave up the ghost was that the couple had a disagreement over feeding allowance and during the struggle that ensued, her husband started beating her.

The beating allegedly continued unabated in spite of passionate pleas from neighbours until the woman collapsed and died later in a hospital. She was said to have kept on vomiting blood after the husband who fought with her left their compound. Reports said, their neighbours did not pick up the courage to rush her to hospital until some of her relations were contacted and they rushed her to hospital. Unfortunately, efforts by a team of doctors to save her life failed as a result of the quantity of blood she lost after the beating by her husband.

After she was confirmed dead, the family members reportedly brought her corpse back to their house and dumped it there for the husband. It was gathered that as soon as her husband was summoned to rush back home, he came only to be told that the wife he was fighting with few minutes ago had died. He was said to have disappeared to an unknown place prompting police to declare him wanted. However, few days later, he was picked up and is presently being detained at SCID Panti while investigations into the case continues.

In this encounter with the embattled husband of the dead woman, he stated categorically that his wife has been sick for a long time and that they only disagreed over the provision of money for feeding. The Delta state born husband of the woman who is from Abia State gave vivid details of what took place before his wife died.to Crime Guard;

“I have been married for five years and we have one child aged a year and six months. On Saturday one of my brothers came to my house and gave N1000 to my wife and I was there when he gave her the money. He gave the money because he knew our condition. My wife has been suffering from pneumonia for about five months and her family knows about it. I informed her elder brother when she went for test that cost N1,500 and we got drugs that helped stop the coughing of blood. She coughs and urinates blood and that is why she wears pads.

“Somebody directed us to a woman who claims to be a specialist on pneumonia. When we contacted her, she told us that the drugs were very expensive but we should start with those we can afford so I asked her not to use the money my brother gave her on any other thing but for the drugs. Later around 5 pm, I instructed her to take the money to the woman which she did immediately. Around 7pm, she returned with bad news that the woman lost her brother, but that she collected her numbers from her children. When we called her, she told us that she was with the rest of her family at Ajangbadi and they are meeting over her brother‘s death but promised to stop over at our house while coming home. However, we waited for her but she did not come.

“On Sunday we went to church. My wife did not go with us. She went to Chosen with our neighbours who worships there. On Monday when I wanted to leave the house, she asked me for money but I told her that I only have N60 with me and I asked her to take N40 for our son’s breakfast assuring that when I return later in the day, I will get more money for food. After my pleadings, she refused to listen to me but rather blocked my way insisting that I must give her more money. At that stage, I had no option than to push her out of my way because I had to go out and find how to get money for them. I have been unemployed for two years now I must go for jobs on time to be able to get something for all of us. As I was going out, one of our neighbours who heard when we were arguing came to intervene but I left him with my wife.

“ Few minutes later while I was with a friend at Oshodi, I received a call from a woman who told me that my wife had fainted. I took a bike home only to be told that she had been taken to Ikeja General Hospital. I went straight to the hospital and when I got there, they said she was not there and I went back home. The next thing I saw was the police. They said I murdered my wife”.

The visibly shaken husband who could not control his tears lamented to Crime Guard, “Why must I beat my wife to death?. Who will look after my small son? It was a minor disagreement and you know women, she wanted to vent her anger on me but I rather insisted on going out to get what we will eat for the day. If I had known that the whole thing will end like this, I would have quietly left her alone and stayed in the house because I know that when she starts feeling hungry, she would definitely get out of my way. What kind of devil caused this. She must have died because of her state of health and not as a result of the push I gave her”.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22396/128/

I heard it on the news yesterday and what a tragic story especially when its coming to the end of the year.

Men do not beat your wife's and women learn how to respect your husbands.

the person has been killed spiritually