…says victim caused it
BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A middle aged man, suspected to be a drug addict, Osondu Nwigwe, was said to have allegedly beaten his town’s person, Regina Nwokpoku, to death at Ndufu Achara, Ezza South LGA, Ebonyi State.
When The Point’s Correspondent visited the bereaved family, the husband of the victim, Donatus Nwokpuku, narrated that his wife was killed by the man who he said she had been assisting.
He added that a day before the fateful day, a posthumous funeral was held in his compound in honour of a departed family member and during the event, the deceased woman who had been caring for the accused person, provided Nwigwe with a special food apart from the refreshment, which was given to all the invitees.
He said his wife never anticipated any form of misfortune in the early hours of the following morning, being 15th July 2021, when she left her house to pick bush mangoes, locally called Ụkpa, without knowing that Nwigwe was trailing her until after Regina had gone far away from her compound.
He added that the man suddenly attacked her, struck and kept on hitting her intermittently on her head with a plank until she gave up ghost inside the bush.
He said, “It was out of generosity that my wife began to assist the man without knowing that the same person was nursing evil in his mind against her. On that particular morning after my wife had gone out in search of the bush mangoes with one of my daughters, the same rogue stealthily followed them until after he had discovered that my daughter had parted with my wife and returned home to carry out some house chores before leaving for her place of tailoring apprenticeship.
“And the man, having seen the opportunity, attacked my wife and hit the woman to death with a plank.”
The dejected man further said that after many hours had gone and he could not find his wife in the compound, which was unusual of her, he became apprehensive and embarked on a search from one bush to another and in the process, he saw the victim already dead in the pool of her blood.
He immediately raised the alarm, which led to youths’ action.
He said, “They went into thorough investigation and along the line, Nwigwe’s underwear was found at the scene of the incident and the accused person too was discovered to be in possession of the deceased’s skin tight underwear.
“I do not know what the man had done to my wife but in the course of the youths searching, my wife’s underwear was found with the man after he had abandoned his boxer at the scene of the incident and fled. I think he killed and raped her and hurriedly carried my wife’s inner wear and left his boxer at the scene.”
Also speaking, one of the deceased’s sons, Chukwuebuka Nwokpoku, said the man was driven away from the city where he was staying before as a result of his waywardness.
He said, “The man before now had stolen over a million naira belonging to his former master but as fate would have it, the money was recovered from him completely after he was caught and based on this act, he was compelled to stay at home.
“Before the incident, he had engaged himself in a security work at Onueke Ezza but due to his unpleasant attitude, he was also fired by his boss. Thereafter, he joined members of Ebubeagu security guards at our council headquarters but he could not stay long with the people because of his mischievous actions.”
“During the posthumous event in our compound, he came and upon his arrival, my mother who had been trying to rehabilitate the man through kindness also provided him with food but unluckily for us, the man eventually paid us with evil,” he explained.
The suspect, said to be a drug addict and drunk, told The Point that his action was caused by the woman’s daughter (whose name was not mentioned), who allegedly rejected his marriage proposal, adding that since he could not hurt the girl, he transferred his anger to the woman for not persuading her daughter in his favour.
