The police in Bayelsa State have arrested one Stephen Ogho-Oghene Akpata (40) for allegedly stabbing his wife to death over alleged infidelity.
The deceased, identified as Onyinye Faustina Eze (33), was said to be a staff of a famous GSM telecom company (name withheld).
The suspect is reported to have owned up to his crime, saying he murdered his wife after both of them had sex at their residence along the Kpansia area of Yenagoa, the State capital.
The suspect reportedly disclosed that he became infuriated when by the text message in his wife’s phone, which suggested that she was having an extramarital affair.
When he confronted her, an argument reportedly ensued, prompting him to stab her on the neck and shoulder and consequently, she bled to death.
He also confessed to have served in various detention centers in Australia.
Those who know said only on August 8 this year, the suspect had shared photos of their court wedding on social media.
Police sources said the incident became known when one of Onyinye’s colleagues, Moses Awo, reported at Ekeki Police Division in Yenagoa that Onyinye did not report for work as expected.
According to him, Awo had reportedly told the police that when he and another colleague went to Onyinye’s residence in Kpansia area of Yenagoa, they discovered that the apartment was locked. They also found that the television set in her room was on.
Some police officers from Ekeki Police Division in Yenagoa went to the her apartment and forced her door open and found Onyinye dead in a pool of her blood.
Hence police fingered her husband as the prime suspect.
He was arrested by police in Badagry, Lagos State, after about two weeks on his trail.
Parading the suspect on Thursday at the state command’s headquarters, the police boss said his operatives discovered some abnormalities in the room of the deceased.
He said the exhibits recovered at the scene of crime were a knicker; a pair of canvas shoes, one damaged electric iron, one jeans jacket, one pen knife, one pink singlet, a Nokia mobile phone and a damaged wristwatch.
He said the exhibits were stained with blood.
The police chief said the body of the deceased was removed and deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, for autopsy.
Narrating how the suspect was arrested, the police boss said that discreet investigations revealed that the suspect absconded to Ghana after allegedly committing the murder in Yenagoa.
The commissioner, who said the suspect returned to Badagry, Lagos a few days after, added that Akpata was tracked and arrested in Badagry on September 1, and brought to Bayelsa the same day.
“When our operatives went into the apartment of the deceased, we meticulously searched the environment and we saw a three-quarter knicker that was well hidden, tucked somewhere in the room that one would not suspect that something was hidden there.
“We discovered there was a blood stain on the knicker. By this time, we tried to find out who was with the lady because we knew that they had just contracted a registry marriage.
“We got in touch with Akpata who is the purported husband. He gave us the impression that he was out of town, implying that he travelled out of town before the incident.
“So, we were still communicating with him, at least to break the news to him that his purported wife was dead. He told us he was on his way back and this took us some days.
“As we were communicating with him, he was just giving us the impression that he was coming back, not knowing that he was plotting his own escape.
“We found out that prior to that time of her murder, the suspect had spent so much money on the lady and they were moving from one hotel to another.
“Still, we were playing along with him to enable him to come to us. But since he said he was in Lagos, we suspected that Ghana or Republic of Benin would be a likely point of escape.
“We got in touch with the embassies there and the Ghanaian Embassy was on the alert. From our radar, we found out that he slept in Ghana.
“He escaped back to Badagry in Lagos. He did not know we were still following him up. We got in touch with the police in Badagry. Eventually he was arrested at the Badagry border. So, we brought him back,” Mr. Amba said.
Amba added that the police command got vital information on him, particularly on his Facebook page where they saw many pictures of him with his murdered wife during their court marriage.
He assured that the suspect would be charged to court while the case would be diligently prosecuted as soon as investigations were concluded.
- NAN