A 40-year-old woman, Mrs Nkiru Okoye, the wife of a mechanical engineer, Emenike Okoye, was allegedly beaten to death by her brother-in-law, George Okoye, over disputed landed property in Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State,
The suspect was said to have invaded the home of the victim, alongside some of his family members on July 19, 2022.
Emenike, who was also inflicted with severe injuries, is currently hospitalised at the Isaac Chira Memorial Hospital and Maternity, Awkuzu, Oyi.
The state police spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the suspect, the elder brother of Emenike had been arrested and investigation was ongoing.
Ikenga said, “We have a suspect in our custody and the case is still being investigated. More information will be communicated as the development continues to unfold.”
Speaking with PUNCH on the hospital bed, Emenike said, “I was preparing for work, while my wife was preparing the children for school and to also travel home for a meeting. George and his wife, Uzonna, and their son, Somtochukwu, and twin daughters, invaded my house around 6am on July 19. They overpowered us, beat us to stupor, and left.
“Later on that day, when my children had gone to school, around 7am, they returned with some persons, carrying dangerous weapons.
“They dragged my wife outside the house, hit and killed her with an axe and a chair. She fell and died. When I resisted their move to drag me outside, they broke my hand with the axe, dragged me outside and started hitting me with the axe all over my body until I passed out. You can see the cut in my eyes.
“They left me, thinking that I was also dead. But miraculously, I escaped death as some members of our local vigilantes who arrived at the scene drove me to a hospital.”
Emenike, while demanding justice for his wife, also asked for help to be relocated to a better hospital where he would fully recover.
On the cause of the crisis, he said, “George, when our mother, Mrs Adaoba Okoye, was alive, claimed to be our landlord. He is not the first born, yet he claims the ownership of the entire compound and always fights with all of us. I was not married to my wife when the crisis started in my family. So, she had nothing to do with this.
“This crisis also led to the death of our mother and our eldest brother. The community had intervened and the property was shared, with him taking the larger part. I took mine without complaining. Later, he started laying claims to the passage that leads my house.
“When I did a perimeter fence, he pulled it down and even reported me to the kindred. I left it. A member of our kindred later intervened and wanted to pay him some money to hands off the portion, he agreed initially, but when it was time to start the construction, he rejected the offer. Only for him to invade my compound and attack me, killing my wife in the process.”
The eldest and only surviving daughter of the family, Mrs Monica Onwuegbusi, said she had initiated reconciliatory moves to bring lasting peace between the brothers, but George refused.
Onwuegbusi, a 68-year-old widow, presented some of the letters of the meeting she initiated, inviting the family to reconcile the brothers.
She appealed for help in raising the five children of the deceased, who were in her custody.
Also speaking, members of the Ogbunike Daughters Association (Umuada Ogbunike), led by Mrs Nkechinyeru Nwoye and Ms Ogochukwu Okoye, described the incident as an abomination.
The younger brother of the late Nkiru, Mr Chidiebele Okelue, said the Abba people would never rest until justice was served.