A 70-year-old widow, Mrs Regina Amayo, has accused her son-in-law, Ekpo Kingsley, of kidnapping her from her house in Ekuma-Abavo, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The widow, whose husband died in 2019, was allegedly kidnapped around 10 pm on Tuesday to an unknown destination.
According to PUNCH, the kidnap incident happened after the son-in-law had a disagreement with his wife.
She said, “I was sleeping around 10 pm on Tuesday when I heard somebody banging on my door and shouting that I should open the door. I was afraid because of the force. Before I knew it, the door had been pulled down. I saw someone dragging me along with a cutlass in his hand, saying if I shouted, he would cut me to pieces.
“He dragged me out into a waiting vehicle. It was then I realised it was my son-in-law because it was already late. He took me to his house at Owa-Alero and kept me in the children’s room. After some minutes, he and a lady, who was later identified as his girlfriend, dragged me out of the room into his vehicle again and zoomed off.
“They took me to a hotel, where he kept me in one of the rooms until Wednesday morning. By then, my children had started searching for me.”
The widow added that said her son-in-law never said anything to her until in the morning when she was informed about the disagreement with his wife.
The wife, Rita, said she fled the house for her life after serious beating and injuries on her and her children.
She said, “I never ran away with his money. We operate a joint account and my husband with his girlfriend were withdrawing and squandering our money. We came to Area Command, Agbor. After our statement, the police detained my brother, who reported the abduction of my mother to the police, and also detained my husband’s girlfriend and left my husband, who perpetrated the act.”
Ekpo, while speaking to the police, said he broke down the door when his mother-in-law refused to open it.
He said, “I came to the house at night and knocked at the door; the woman refused to open the door, so I used my hand and broke the door and carried my mother-in-law because my wife ran away with my money and the documents of my house.”
The Police Area Commander in Agbor, Friday Idachaba, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, urged the parties to settle amicably.
He said, “What we are looking at is the interest of their children. We are trying to see how we can ensure that their relationship remains intact so that the children will not grow up to become vagabonds.
“The woman acted based on the fear that her husband wanted to marry another woman and so, she seized the property documents. That was what annoyed the husband and he took the law into his hands. All that he did wasn’t right because abduction was proved, together with his girlfriend. I ordered that his girlfriend should also be detained for coming to destroy a home.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident but said the information he got had nothing to do with an abduction.