Mother Of Three Axes Husband To Death In Auchi

ZENAB AGBONTINE

A 35-year-old housewife identified as Zenab Agbontine has been arrested for allegedly murdering her husband, Egberise Agbontine, in Ubiane Aviele village near Auchi, Edo State in cold blood with an axe for refusing to eat the food she prepared for him after he returned from work.

The incident was devastating so much that despite his years in the Nigeria Police and having encountered different murder cases, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Foluso Adebanjo, said he still had not recovered from the shock.

Zenab murdered her husband as he slept.

According to her, they had allegedly been quarrelling for more than a week before she decided to permanently resolve the problem by sending Egberise to his grave in the most gruesome way conceivable.

On the fateful day, when the husband returned from office, she prepared his meal.

Without any foreboding that death lurked in the corner in wait for him, Egebrise took his bath and when the wife informed him that food was ready, he reportedly declined eating what she had prepared.

Narrating the chain of events that ultimately led to the tragic death of Egberise, Zenab told Sunday Sun in an interview: “I have been having quarrels with my husband for a long time. We tried to settle the matter without success. One day, my husband came back from the office and told me that he was not interested in the marriage anymore.

“I pleaded with him but he refused. I prepared food for him but he refused to eat the food. With annoyance he went to sleep. At about midnight when my husband was asleep I went to the kitchen and I took the axe and cut him on the neck several times, he struggled until he died. It was the devil that used me. I didn’t know what prompted me to kill him but maybe because he said he was not interested in the marriage again.

“The family of my husband should forgive me. I am calling on the elders in the community in Auchi to forgive me because it was ignorance and the devil that used me as I now realize that I didn’t exercise enough patience with my husband”.

Though Zenab has resigned herself to the fate that awaits her after trial, the future of the three children she bore for the late Egberise is her major concern now.

Amidst tears, she remarked on the bleak future of her children: “I know I will face the consequence of my action but the question is who will take care of my children? I have three children for him. Their father is dead and their mother is on the way to the prison. It is only God that will take care of my children”.

The police boss said that the suspect would soon be arraigned in court on murder charge.