Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Police in Ogun State have arrested a 37-year-old man, Mutiu Sonola, for allegedly beating his wife, Zainab Shotayo, to death on Christmas Day.
The suspect was arrested on December 25 following a report by the father of the deceased, who reported the incident at the Ibara Division of the state Police Command.
According to him, he had been called on phone that his 34-year-old daughter was having a misunderstanding with her husband, who had beaten her into a state of coma.
The victim’s father said that he had raced to the scene and rushed his daughter to the General Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, the state capital, where the doctor confirmed her dead.
As soon as the suspect realised that his victim had died, he took to his heels, the report said.
On the strength of the report, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ogun State Police Command’s Ibara Division, SP Dada Olusegun, mobilised his detectives and went after the suspect. He was eventually located and promptly arrested.
Preliminary investigation reveal that the Mutiu was fond of beating his wife Zainab at the slightest provocation, with the fatal domestic violence incident of Christmas said to be as a result of a minor disagreement.
Zainab’s corpse has since been deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital for autopsy.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Kenneth Ebrimson, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution,” the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said in a statement on Thursday.