Woman strangles lover’s 4 children in Anambra state:
Culled from
Sunnewsonline.com
In what sounds like a movie tale, A woman in Obuno Umuochefu,
Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra state has snuffed
life out of four children of her boyfriend by strangling them. Not done
with her bestial mission, the suspect sat back at the scene of the crime
until her victims’ parents returned, and attacked their mother.
See the rest after the cut...
For Mr and Mrs Nwanneka Ogechukwu Okonkwo, both natives of Ekwulumili
in Nnewi South Local Government Area but resident in Igbo-Ukwu, January
15, 2013, came like any other day. But the young couple who are each 28
years old, never knew that it was the day their four children,
Chukwuebuka, (13), Chukwumelum (6) Obumneme (3) and 15-month-old
Chinenyenwa would breathe their last.
The young couple had no premonition of the tragedy that shocked
everybody in the community. Their three sons and a daughter were
allegedly killed by a lady simply identified as Blessing, from Abakiliki
in Ebonyi State. Narrating the tragic incident, the mother of the dead
children who spoke with Sunday Sun at Ekwulumili Health Centre where she
was recuperating from the shock, said that she was also attacked by the
suspect. Mrs Okonkwo said that the eldest of her children, Chukwuebuka,
was the first casualty.
According to her, the suspect allegedly hit him on his forehead with a
hard object and dumped the lifeless body inside an underground tank in
the compound before strangling his siblings one after the other. “I was
to go for a burial ceremony with my husband at Ukpor on that fateful day
and the children went to school. We initially left with the youngest
one, Chinenyenwa but the vehicle we boarded was jam-packed with
passengers and the baby started crying. Consequently, my husband said we
should disembark and use our motorcycle but people around said the road
was too dusty to ride with a baby on a bike.
I decided to go home and wait for our other children who went to
school so that they would take care of the baby and enable my husband
and I to make the trip with our motorcycle. “But long after school
hours, the children didn’t come home. We went to the school and other
pupils told us that our children had gone home. I looked for them along
the roads they usually take to the house but I did not see them.
Thereafter, I urged my husband to go on his own and look for them,
but he returned soon after, saying he had seen them coming home. Before
my husband and I left for the burial, I gave them food and told them to
go and stay with an old woman in the neighbourhood because we are the
only occupants of that building, and I don’t like them staying alone in
the compound. “We had stayed barely one hour at the burial ceremony when
my husband said we should go home.
But before we left, my husband’s phone rang and I heard him say, ‘I’m
in a burial’. So, as we got close to our home, his phone rang again and
he told the caller that we were not back yet. I didn’t ask him who the
caller was as we rode straight to the house.
“When we got to the elderly neighbour’s house, we were told that she
had gone for prayers and that my children were not seen there. We got to
the house and I opened the gate from behind believing that the children
were inside the house. As we parked our motorcycle inside the compound,
my husband pointed to the underground tank that was open. I became
apprehensive because we don’t keep it open. But I said maybe the eldest
might have drawn water from the well and had forgotten to close it.
I called Ebuka but there was no response. I ran into the sitting room
and saw the three younger ones lying on the floor as if they were
asleep. I ran out again believing that those three were sleeping. I
continued to call Ebuka and looked into the tank and I didn’t see
anything. “Later, I decided to wake up Ebuka’s immediate younger brother
to ascertain the whereabouts of his brother. I called him but he didn’t
wake up; I tried to rouse him but he was motionless and so were the
other two. I cried to my husband that the children were dead and I
concluded that since the three were dead, Ebuka might be inside the
well.
There were marks of human nails on their necks that showed that they
were strangled. One of them had faeces in his anus. “It was when my
husband started crying and moved towards our bedroom, that the lady
(suspect) emerged from the bedroom and asked him why he was shouting.
Then, I advanced towards her and demanded from her, where she kept
Ebuka’s body because I had seen the others she killed. I held her and
she gripped me. When I freed myself from her grip, I rushed to lock one
of the two gates and raised the alarm until neighbours came.
“Later, somebody rushed out and called the youths of the community
before the local vigilante and policemen arrived. She was arrested along
with my husband.” Sources told Sunday Sun that the timely arrival of
the police and the local vigilante saved the suspect from being lynched.
It was also gathered that Mr Okonkwo, a furniture maker, had been
dating the suspect, a relationship his wife confirmed, and had been
battling to stop.
When contacted, the couple’s landlord, Mr Sunday, who lives outside
the community, described the alleged killing of the innocent children as
unfortunate and declined further comment. The Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO) in Anambra State, Mr Emeka Chukwuemeka, confirmed the
incident and said the matter was being handled by the State Criminal
Investigation Department in Awka, the state capital.
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