News Star newspaper

Man kills wife over N40

SUNDAY MICHAEL with agency report
Residents of 2, Oremeji Street, off Salawu Street , Arowojobe, Oshodi, Lagos were recently shocked over the killing of a nursing mother by her husband.
The woman was said have been beaten to death by her husband, Mr. John Mebele, after she demanded for money to feed herself and their only child.
News Star gathered that the problem started when the man gave the woman N40.00 to buy garri to feed their one-year-old child and herself. The woman was said to have refused to collect the money and insisted that her husband should add to it.
It was learnt that what started as a mere exchange of words soon snowballed into a serious argument between the couple and the man unable to stomach the insubordination, reportedly attacked his wife.
The suspect, who was paraded recently at the Odua, GRA, Ikeja office of the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, gave account of what transpired between him and his wife thus: “On Monday (November 17) I was about to leave the house when she asked me to give her money to feed both herself and our one-year-old baby. I had N100. 00 and I gave her N40. 00. But she said the money was not enough. As I was about to go out of the house, she blocked the door. I gave her a slap and it was a light beating before God and man. Immediately, I gave her the slap, she left the door and went to sit on the bed. I then dressed and left the house. Later one of my co-tenants called and informed me to come home around 11:30 am that my wife was ill. At about 1:30 pm when I was about coming, he called me again and said that they were taking her to a hospital in Ikeja. I got home at about 6 pm. I was surprised when her younger brother accused me of killing my wife.”
The landlord of the house where the incident took place, Mr. Segun Sotunde, said he was sleeping when he was called upon to separate the couple.
He said, “At about 7 am, Mebele locked his wife up in the house and beat her up. Before they came to wake me, two of their fellow tenants had tried to prevent him from beating his wife but he walked them out.
“When I got to the door to his apartment to ask him (Mebele) what the problem was, I noticed that his door was locked. I wanted to force the door open but because I knew he could harm me if I did that, I changed my mind. While he was beating her, the woman was saying ‘John leave me alone. You know that I am ill and you are still beating me. Do you want to kill me?’ John did not open the door for me. When he was satisfied with beating his wife, he locked her in the room and left. Thirty minutes after, Iyawo (Justina) began to vomit blood.
“So, other tenants and I rushed her to a hospital. We did not see Mobele until 6:30 pm. He called my phone two times to know what was happening to his wife, but I insisted that he should come home to see things for himself. I informed the people in the compound that he called. I told him that I wanted to see him in the house.
“It took the younger brother of the deceased to bundle him down to the house before we could see him that day. It was unfortunate that Mebele did this to his wife who stood by him when he was almost dying last Saturday. The woman was good to him.”
The deceased’s immediate younger brother, Boniface Onwumere, recalled the painful last moment of the deceased in an interview thus: “It was about 11:30 am, on that day, when my mobile phone rang. I was in the office when a friend of mine who lives in the house where my late sister was killed asked me to come to rescue my dying sister. I left office for Arowojobe. As I was getting close to the house, I saw one Keke NAPEP (tricycle) leaving the street. Then I ran to meet the friend who informed me. I asked him about my sister’s whereabouts and he told me that she was in the tricycle. I ran after the tricycle to Pure Heart Hospital where the driver abandoned her by the roadside. The driver dropped her on ground close to the hospital.
“I tried to carry her as I shouted for help. Soon people gathered round us. I looked for cab tirelessly to take her to hospital but none was willing to help. At that period, she was still alive. I met one Good Samaritan, Mr Theo. I don't know him from Adam but seeing how I was shouting, he came to my aid. With the help of other sympathisers we put her in Mr. Theo’s car and drove her to Ikeja General Hospital .
“At the Emergency Department of the hospital, a doctor saw her body and referred us to another department.  When we got to the department we were further referred to another department. It was at that point that I asked the management to stop tossing us around and tell us the truth. The doctor then told me that my sister had dead. I then called my elder brother and informed him.”
Another person moved by the sudden demise of the mother of one was her elder brother, Mr. Peter Onwemere.
The elder brother, who said he was still in shock over the incident, accused Mebele of being economical with the truth.
He said, “I brought Justina to Lagos and she was with me until she met John. She married John Mebele five years ago. John pretended to be a responsible man when he lured Justina into marriage. After the marriage, he began to show his real character. We are witness to what happened after my sister had married Mr. Mebele; she changed in so many ways including becoming a born-again Christian.
“She was hoping that John would change from his bad ways. Sometimes, John gave her the impression that he was willing to change by following her to her church. Many times, John would batter her. At a point, I asked her to return to my house. She did but after some weeks, John came and talked her to return to him when I was away.
“John has bad friends who introduced him to alcohol. He would drink to the extent that he would not be able to control himself. He was sacked because of that at his office.
“With the efforts of Justina’s younger brother, Boniface, John got two other jobs which he could not keep because he had become so involved in the habit of drinking and often forgot his responsibilities. That was the beginning of the trouble that took the life of my young and beautiful sister. My fear now is the old relations in our village. How do I tell them this?”
The state police spokesman, Frank Mba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said Mebele would soon be charged to court. 

Game up

SUNDAY MICHAEL

The game of wit between men of the Ogun State Police Command and a notorious trans-border robbery gang is gradually coming to an end as a team of policemen while attempting to arrest the gang members gunned down three of them.
The deceased persons were said to have died after they had engaged the policemen in an exchange of fire in an attempt to evade arrest.
News Star gathered that at about 8:30 am on that day, the policemen surrounded the Alaari hideout of the bandits in Idiroko area of the state after the gang had allegedly snatched a vehicle.
It was learnt that the policemen invaded the hoodlums’ hideout after they had received information about their whereabouts.
The deceased persons were among the 15 robbers who were said to have gathered at Alaari ostensibly to deliberate after they had driven newly stolen vehicles across the border.
The policemen were said to have been on the trail of the robbers for a long while before the last encounter.
It was gathered that police’s original plan was to arrest the robbers alive before a twist in event that left in its trail the death of the trio.
“The policemen had stationed themselves at the place while the robbers were deliberating. Some members of the gang were keeping watch while others were deliberating. Immediately their guards sighted the policemen, they opened fire at them (policemen) and in the ensuing gun duel, three members of the gang were killed while others fled with bullet wounds,” a police source said.
It was learnt that one Bajaj motorcycle with a Lagos registration number QJ 080 KTU, a cut to size locally made double barrel gun and six live cartridges were recovered from the bandits.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang specialised in all forms of crime- carjacking, burglary, bank and highway robbery.
It was gathered that members of the gang were made up of both Nigerians and foreigners. Police believed that the gang was responsible for various robberies in the western states of the country.
It was learnt that the bandits often rob in Nigeria and take their loot to neighbouring countries of Republic of Benin and Niger to sell with the help of their accomplices there.
Police said investigations were ongoing to arrest fleeing members.
The police both at the federal and state levels this year have done a lot in curbing the activities of the criminals at the border town.
Over 20 suspected trans-border bandits have arrested this year while no fewer than 15 have been killed during exchange of fire with the police.
Some of the trans-border bandits whose names have been on the wanted list of the police were arrested in September by men of the Federal SARS. Those arrested include a deadly robber popularly called Lastborn, Gafaru Sani alias Onile , Benin Republic-born Simeon Uji alias Ganjaman and Ajayi.

‘Gold heart’ lands man in police net

ANASTACIA AGUNWA, ASABA
The fate of a 29-year-old man is hanging in the balance, as he has been arrested and detained in connection with human trafficking and murder charge.
The suspect, Onyeka Aliagwu, became guest of the Delta State Police Command after the mother of a 24-year-old lady he allegedly took to Libya accused him of killing her daughter.
Narrating his ordeal to News Star at the state police command in Asaba where he was paraded alongside other suspected criminals, Aliagwu said the deceased died in an accident.
The suspect who said he has been living in Libya since 1993 added that he travelled with the deceased, Nancy, after her mother pleaded with him to secure a job for her in Libya .
The Agbor-Idumesa, Ika South Local Government Area-born suspect said the deceased was the third on the list of people he had travelled with to the North African country in February.
He said, “Her mother handed her to me and asked me to help her secure a job in Libya . Initially I refused to take her with me because I had two other girls travelling with me then, but when the woman begged me I decided to go with her. When we got to Libya I helped her secure a job as a cleaner in a hospital. I took her as my wife because Libya is a Sharia-practising country and a mature man would not be allowed to live there without a wife.”

The suspect who claimed he worked in a car wash said he called the girl’s mother immediately her daughter had accident and also when she eventually died.
He said, “The only thing the girl’s mother did after I told her was to bring policemen to my house in Nigeria and arrest my wife and the boy that connected me to the deceased.
“They were released later but when the mother said the police were not handling the case well, the case was transferred to Benin , before it was eventually transferred to Abuja . When I returned to the country, I was arrested and detained by policemen in Abuja .”
The suspect added, “The Libya government was aware that the woman died in an accident. All the pictures and everything connected to the burial are in Abuja .”
Aliagwu, therefore, called on the police authority to verify the authenticity of his claim from the Libya government.
Asked whether he had engaged in the act of human trafficking, he said no.
However, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jacob Oshiomogho, in a recent press briefing in Asaba said that in April last year, the suspect took the deceased to Libya where she died and he has been on the wanted list of the state police.
Oshiomogho said in March, Aliagwu took another two women, Helen Azike and Happy, whose surname is unknown, to Libya .
When asked about the two ladies, the suspect said one of them had been in Libya before and had been going in and out of the country with her boyfriend while the second lady, he said, lived with her sister there.
The commissioner of police said that Aliagwu would be charged to court soon.