Lukman Olabiyi, Lagos
The widow of the late Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Ltd, Mr Opeyemi Bademosi, Mrs Ebunoluwa Bademosi, has given the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, a gripping account of how her husband was allegedly murdered by their cook.
Read also: Togolese cook confesses: How I killed Credit Switch boss
The widow accused 22-year-old Togolese cook, Sunday Anani, of killing her husband three days after he was employed to work for the family.
Anani, is facing a two-count charge of murder and armed robbery preferred against him, by the Lagos State government.
The defendant allegedly committed the offended on October 31, 2018, at Preview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
He allegedly stabbed the deceased Bademosi, 67, to death with a knife and stole his valuables including his phones.
The offence is punishable under Sections 223 and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At the resumed trial of the accused cook, the Director of Public Prosecution, Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bay led the widow in evidence.
The witness said that on the fateful day, she had gone to Polaris Bank, in Falomo, to do some fund transfers to Dubai and China, and by the time she came back, she saw blood flowing from her husband’s room.
The widow said while she was about leaving the bank, the deceased called her, speaking with anger, asking her on phone why the defendant was knocking at his door, and also asked if she was back from the bank but said she said no, that she was on her way.
Mrs Bademosi said that the deceased, later told her that he will open the door to find out what the defendant wanted.
According to her, before she left the house, for the bank, she had told the defendant that ‘Oga dey sleep’ ( that her husband was still sleeping), that he shouldn’t wake him up, that he should continue with the cleaning of the house which he was about starting when she was leaving the house.
She said that she had not seen her husband that fateful morning of the incident as they did not share the same room; so she just told the defendant that she was going out and would be back soon.
The witness told Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile that she got to the bank at exactly 8:05am.
She said: “I left the bank and drove through Bourdillon and went home; the security man opened the gate and I drove in and went through the kitchen door to gain access into the building, through the kitchen door, but it was locked. I knocked severally, calling on the defendant, he didn’t respond; my husband’s bedroom and the kitchen door was a distance. So I felt he must be doing something for him, so I waited by the kitchen door for a while.
“While I was waiting, I got a call from my sister in Ibadan and we spoke for about 5-6 minutes. At some point, I brought out my phone from my bag and called my husband; then I realised that the phone was being picked, but kept mute. I called him twice and it was the same thing. It was showing minutes counting but nobody was talking. At that stage, I decided to pass through the front door, thinking if I got there, there would be somebody at the door but by the time I got to the front door, I realised that the door was left ajar,” the witness stated.
Testifying further, Mrs Bademosi said: “I entered the apartment; by the time I got in, I looked up and saw blood flowing out, from my husband’s bedroom; I couldn’t enter because the door was a bit closed but I could see his body lying on the floor and because I wasn’t sure of what could be happening inside, the bedroom, I ran out of the building and started screaming, calling neighbours for help; a couple of people came. I told them to go up and check that something was happening, that I din’t know what exactly it was.”
The widow added that, she later ran to asked the security man at the gate: ‘Where is that guy that oga brought into the house?’ What is happening?’ ‘Who is inside the house?’”
She said the security informed her that the defendant had told him that he was sent on an errand.
“Immediately people started coming, my next door neighbours and her driver were going upstairs and I followed them but I stood at a distance and they came out and said he is gone (my husband is gone) and the defendant was not inside the house; then I passed out,” she narrated.
The witness further said: “By the time I woke up, I saw a crowd around me; inside the house, my husband’s corpse was lying down there, but they later took me downstairs.
“The police came and took his corpse in an ambulance, and he was buried on November 21, 2018.”
She further stated that on the day of the incident, October 31, the police obtained a statement from her, adding that she was traumatised and not in the right frame of mind, when the police was questioning her.
Bademosi said that about ten days later, the police came and led her back into the house, and it was then that she discovered that her husband’s five wrist watches were stolen; the defendant took her husband’s phone, open all his brief cases and drawers and scattered them on the floor.
Justice Okikiolu-Ighile, adjourned further trial till June 11.
