From Tony Osauzo, Benin
A 45-year-old man simply identified as Mr. Christopher, has reportedly beat his wife to death in Benin City, the Edo State capital, for allegedly refusing to give him N2,000 loan.
The incident occurred Saturday night at 1, Agbontaen Street, beside Ebvareke Secondary School, off Anigboro street, Uselu, Benin City.
The man was said to have returned home at night and started beating the wife, Mrs Isoken Christopher, 39 and mother of three, following her alleged failure to give him the loan he requested from her.
Narrating how the incident happened, eldest son of the deceased woman, Augustine Christopher, 13, said his mother was hale and hearty before her death, explaining that his father who is a menial worker with a Waste disposal outfit in Benin, always beat his mother at the slightest provocation.
He said the event that led to his mother’s death started with a phone call from his father requesting for N2,000.
“Following the call, my father came home at about 9 pm 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 she requested for when my father took the water and drug from me and threw it away.
“It was after then she went out to pour water on her body and later lie down outside.
“My father locked us (children) inside the room and went out to pounce on my mother where she was lying down outisde, already weak from the beating.
“That was when neigbours came and rushed her to two different hospitals where both pronounced her dead on arrival”, the boy said, adding that his father smokes and was always drunk.
A neighbour to the deceased, Mrs Florence Obahiagbon, while confirming the incident, said it was the noise from the beating that brought them outside.
“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 that responded swiftly and they caught the deceased husband who was then trying to escape after committing the crime.
Mrs Obahiagbon corroborated the account of deceaced’s son, saying that the woman was hale and hearty before her death, as they had both attended a party earlier in the day where she (deceased) participated in serving guests at the party.
She said the late mother of three was a hard working woman who operated a fashion shop in a caravan in front of their rented apartment of room and parlour, adding that the deceased’s corpse was taken away by the Police from the New Benin Station.
At press time yesterday, spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, Kontongs Bello, said he was yet to get details of the incident from the DPO in charge of the area, even as informed source confirmed that the killer husband has been handed over to the police.