Man allegedly strangles wife in Lagos

…. Son claims father told him to tell people his mother drank snipper
Detectives attached to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Lagos State Police Command are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of one Thereasa Owobi, a pregnant mother of three who was allegedly strangled by her husband, John Owobi a commercial bank driver.

Our correspondent gathered that although the deceased and her husband who lived in a room apartment at No. 42 Musili Street, Agege were married for thirteen years, they had maintained a cat and mouse relationship as late Thereasa had often accused her husband of infidelity which had resulted in series of physical combat.

Although the family of the deceased are alleging that John had killed his wife with the intention of marrying his mistress who was also pregnant for him, Daniel Akor who is a brother to the suspect and an eye witness, however tells a different story.

Daniel who had lived with the couple for about three months told New Telegraph that on the day of the incident which happened July 13th, 2017, at about 9pm, the couple were said to have engaged in a heated argument over a phone call received by the husband.

According to him, “that night, Thereasa had accused her husband of speaking to one of his numerous girl friends on phone. My brother just kept mute and told her he wasn’t in the mode to make trouble.

She started cursing him and left the house in anger, she came back with a bottle of snipper insecticide shock she immediately poured into her mouth before we could stop her, she had taken the whole content.

” We were confused and instantly gave her oil to drink but it was however too late as she gave up almost immediately. ”

The 12 year old son of the deceased, Isreal Owobi who was also at the scene of the incident said he was asleep when the whole incident had transpired. He said he only woke up when he heard his mother screaming for help.

He said, ” I was sleeping and woke up when I heard my mother screaming help! help! help! she was shouting ‘he wants to remove a baby from my stomach’. My brother was under the bed and I saw my father and uncle Daniel trying to pull my mother from under the bed.

“I later went back to sleep and woke up again to go and ease myself. I saw my father trying to pour oil into my mother’s mouth and uncle Daniel was holding a torchlight. My uncle asked me to go and sleep that by God’s grace my mother would be okay.

“I did go back to sleep and at about 5 am when I woke up, my uncle told me my mother was dead and that my father had gone to inform the police of the incident. When my father got back, he told me my mother had taken snipper and he showed me the empty container.

My daddy insisted that when people ask me what happened to my mother, I should tell them she drank snipper insecticide and nothing more. He told me if I did otherwise, the police would arrest me.”

Sister to the late Thereasa, Blessing insisted her sister had no reason to take her own life. According to her, her sister had confided in her and their mother that the husband had been giving her several drugs to abort the five months old pregnancy.

She said, ” I had seen my sister a day before her death. She was perfectly okay. I was however surprised when I was called the next day that my sister was dead and that he had taken her own life.

” I sincerely believe that her husband has a hand in her death because when we all travelled in April, she was telling us if how her husband had been flirting around and had refused to play his role as a father properly.

She told us he hadn’t been giving her money for upkeep and that he had been buying her different herbal mixtures to flush out the pregnancy. She had concluded she was not going back to him because he was capable of killing her but upon the conviction by my grand mother, she had to return to him

” All we want is for the police to investigate the matter and give our late sister justice. I am convinced she didn’t kill her self. I believe she was strangled by her husband with the help of his brother. All we and is justice and that is all.” She concluded.

On his path, John who is currently in police custody said he had nothing to say about the allegation, that his hands are clean and that though the late wife’s family are claiming they have money to pursue a case. He insists his hands are clean and that he knows nothing about the death of his wife as she took her own life herself.

A police source at the SCIID however say it is only an autopsy that can tell the actual cause of the death of Thereasa.