Battle For Home Ownership: Man Strangles His 62-Yr-old Mother To Death
It was indeed a gory story at Agbani Nkwelle, Awka, the Anambra State Capital where a woman was strangled to death by her middle-aged son over a family house.
Daily Sun gathered that the deceased, Mrs. Gloria Amaechi Okafor and her son Ndubuisi had been contesting ownership and control of the building situate in a remote area of Awka, where the Okafor family had lived over the years, even before their father died many years ago. One of the sons of the victim, based in overseas was building the house before he died.
Before the ugly incident in the night of April 16, Ndubuisi, the first son of the family, had insisted that his mother and his younger brother, Chijioke who were living in the same building with him should pack out, so that he would rent their apartments to make money. That position, which was challenged by the woman and her second son Chijioke, had generated serious controversy, resulting in physical combat a number of times.
Narrating the incident that led to their mother’s death, Chijioke said that on April 12, 2013, he woke up early in the morning and heard a knock on his door. He said that when he opened the door of his flat, he saw his elder brother Ndubuisi and two policemen and the policemen told him that he was under arrest for an offence he did not know.
He said “I was woken up by the knock on my door that early morning and when I opened the door, I saw my brother and two policemen, who told me that I was under arrest for an offence I did not know.
“I went to the other flat where my mother is sharing with Ndubuisi and informed her of the development and then followed them to the Central Police Station, Awka.”
Chijioke said that after informing his mother about his arrest, the woman assured him that she would soon join them at the Police Station.
According to him, soon after making a statement at the station, his mother arrived and informed the police that he (Chijioke) had no problem with Ndubuisi, but that Ndubuisi was rather contesting her compound with her. He said their mother made a statement and when his wife arrived, he was released on bail.
Chijioke told Daily Sun that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at the Central Police Station Awka invited them on April 17 so that their case could be resolved amicably. The sobbing Chijioke said however, that his mother could not live to see April 17 as she was strangled to death on April 16 night when everybody had gone to bed.
“When I woke up in the morning, I discovered after a long while that my mother did not come out. I entered their flat, I saw that the door between my mother’s room and that of Ndubuisi was opened. I entered the room and saw the dead body of my mother with blood and foam in her mouth. That ugly sight made me shout that Ndubuisi had killed my mother. At that point Ndubuisi had taken his bathe and ran away, calling on some people and telling them that my mother was dead and that she died just suddenly,” Chijioke said.
He said it was possible for Ndubuisi to kill their mother because he was living in the same flat with her, while he (Chijioke) and his family were living in the other flat on the ground floor of the one storey building.
Daily Sun gathered that Ndubuisi had since confessed his crime, stating that he knelt down beside the woman as she was sleeping and held her on the throat while the woman struggled and eventually died.
When Daily Sun visited the village residence of the deceased, it was discovered that the apartment where Ndubuisi lived with his mother had been vacated and all the items owned by Ndubuisi were packed outside the house and set ablaze by their younger brother who returned from Cameroon when he received the information about the murder of his mother.
One of the tenants in the compound, Mrs Agnes Agbo told Daily Sun that as the dispute lasted, Ndubisi had given them notice to quit the place to enable him effect the changes he proposed in the place.
Commenting on the incident, the younger brother to the deceased woman, Mr Kingsley Nebechi said that what happened was an abomination.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer for Anambra State Mr Emeka Chukwuemeka (DSP) confirmed the incident, and said that the suspect would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation on the matter was concluded.
