Man Beats Wife to Death over N2, 000 in Edo

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city

A 45-year-old man simply identified as Mr. Christopher last Saturday night allegedly beat his wife to death over the sum of N2,000.

The incident, it was gathered, happened at 1 Agbontaen Street, beside Ebvareke Secondary School in Uselu, Benin-city.

The man was said to have pounced on his wife, Mrs. Isoken Christopher, following her failure to give him the N2,000 loan he requested from her.

The eldest child of the deceased woman, Augustine, noted that his mother was hale and hearty before the sad incident.

The 13-year-old Augustine explained that his father, who is a menial worker with a waste manager firm in Benin-city, always beat his mother at the slightest provocation.

According to him, the event that led to his mother’s death started with a phone call from his father to his mother where he requested for N2,000.

“Following the call, my father came home at about 9p.m. and started beating her and accused her of always embarrassing him each time he requested for money.

“After the beating, I was trying to give my mother Paracetamol and water which she asked for when my father took the water and drug from me and threw them away.

“My father locked us (children) inside the room and went out to pounce on my mother where she was lying down outside, already weak from the initial beating.

“That was when neighbours came and rushed her to two different hospitals where both hospitals pronounced her dead on arrival,” he explained.

The young boy said his father smokes and was always drunk.

Similarly, a neighbour to the deceased, Mrs. Florence Obahiagbon, said it was the noise from the beating that brought them outside.

According to her, “On getting outside, we met the man beating his wife as usual, and we tried to revive her by pouring water on her because she was weak by then.

“We rushed her to two hospitals within the neighbourhood where they both said she was dead on arrival.

“We invited vigilante; they responded swiftly and caught the deceased husband who was then trying to escape after committing the crime.”

Mrs. Obahiagbon said the deceased was healthy as they had both attended a social gathering earlier in the day where she (deceased) participated by serving guests who attended the occasion.

She added that the corpse was taken away by the Police from the New Benin Station.

When contacted, the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kotong Bello, said he is currently reaching out to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area, and promised to reach out later, which he was yet to do as at press time.