I drank poison on learning that my wife died after our fight — Suspect

The Bayelsa State Police Command has arrested a man, Christopher Chiabata, for allegedly killing his 41-year-old wife with a pestle.

Chiabata, 59, was among several criminal suspects paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Mike Okoli, at the command headquarters in Yenagoa on Tuesday.

He said he killed his wife in self-defence during a fight over money in their house at Onuebum in the Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

According to police report, Chiabata hit his wife with a pestle during the fight, and after realising that he had committed murder, drank Sniper to commit suicide but neighbours resuscitated and handed him over to the police.

He explained in an interview that he had been married to his wife for 30 years with five children but they had been fighting frequently because she had the habit of denying him access to monies they jointly generated from their farming business.

Chiabata said, “Whenever my wife takes our produce to the market, she does not give me account of the sales. For two years, she refused to give me account of the money we realised from the farm. So, one day, I called her to give me account and when she refused, we started fighting until neighbours separated us.

“In anger, the next day, I asked her to leave the farm business for me to handle alone. One day, when I returned from the farm, she had packed my things out of the house. That day, we fought again and neighbours separated and settled us.

“Fed up with the whole development, I asked her to pack out of the house the following day but she refused. Then we started fighting at that point. She was stronger than me; so, each time we fought, she would beat me mercilessly. This time, as she was beating me, out of anger, I struck her with a pestle.

“It was at that point she collapsed. Neighbours helped rush her to University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital where she died. When I heard she had died, I took Sniper in an attempt to kill myself but neighbours were quick to come to my rescue and took me to hospital.”

Okoli also paraded one Lazarus Josiah, 29, who was arrested for allegedly strangling his 59-year-old mother, Chain Bishop, to death for reasons yet-to-be ascertained at Odioma community in the Brass Local Government Area of the state.

Also arrested were five members of a gang that specialised in posing as the State Environmental Sanitation Authority officials to kidnap and rob unsuspecting road users around Yenagoa, the state capital. (The PUNCH)