27-YEAR-OLD HOUSE WIFE STABS HUSBAND TO DEATH OVER HIS REFUSAL TO GIVE HER N1000, ALLEGING HE DID HIMSELF A FAVOUR BY MARRYING HER

What started as a mild argument over money turned tragic between a couple in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State after the wife stabbed her husband to death. The incident happened on Wednesday, last week, on TK Balogun Street, Igbo Olomu, Ishawo.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the woman, Folashade Sodiya, 27, killed her husband, Jude Igbinedor, 39, around 2am after heated argument over money. They were said to have been in a seven-year relationship, though the union had not been consented to by the parents.

They reportedly got married without approval of their parents and started living together two years ago. Our correspondent gathered that the suspect, an indigene of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, had a one-year-old baby for the deceased, who was an Edo State indigene.

When our correspondent visited the area on Tuesday, a neighbor Busola Adewunmi, explained that the couple had only recently relocated to the area. She added that the couple had barely spent five days in their single room apartment when tragedy struck. Adewunmi described them as gentle and respectful tenants, who complied with the rules of the house, adding that Folashade was, however, temperamental while her husband smoked. She said,

“They packed into this house penultimate Saturday morning, around 5am, and the incident happened on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, the wife had asked someone to lend her N1,000 pending when her husband would come back from his mother’s place where he had gone to. The man arrived and even bought vegetables and other food stuffs for his family. In the evening, he came out and also washed the pots they used to cook that day. It was around 2am that things went sore. I learnt she said he was the first to use a hanger to hit her before she also stabbed him in the chest.”

Our correspondent learnt that after Jude was stabbed, Folashade called for help. However, Igbinedor gave up shortly after. The neighbours were said to have alerted policemen from the Owutu Police Division. Another resident, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said when the police arrived at the scene, they met the suspect on the floor with her baby in her hands. The resident, who declined identification, said,

“She had become remorseful by then. When the police picked the wrong knife as exhibit, she told them she used a stainless knife in killing her husband, which she also fetched for them. It was said that she wanted to take part of the money the husband brought from her mother to offset the money she borrowed, but he declined. She never denied killing him. But she said he was the first to attack her and she only wanted to scare him with the knife.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that the deceased’s corpse had been taken to the mortuary, while the suspect was detained at the Owutu Police Station. A police source told our correspondent that the suspect and the deceased had been having silent quarrels before the incident. The source said,

“No one can tell what exactly caused this one. The woman, however, said her grouse with Jude was that he always gave her the impression he did her a favour by letting her have his child. She said she was holding the knife that night to scare him and did not know when he rushed at her and the knife entered his chest.”

When our correspondent contacted a relative of the deceased, he declined comment, referring our correspondent to the family lawyer whose contact could not be obtained as of press time. The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, however, confirmed the incident. He said,

“At about 1.15am on November 13, one Jude Igbinedor was stabbed on the chest by his wife, Folashade Shodiya. The victim died on the spot, while his corpse has been taken to the Ikorodu General Hospital morgue for autopsy.”

He added that the case had been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.