Man Kills another in defence of Wife
On November 1, 2014, Sunday Orochendu, a truck driver received a
distress call from his wife, Ndidi. He was told that their neighbour had
assaulted his family members. Determined to play the role of a man who
should be known for standing for his family, Orochendu raced home.
Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a warning resulted in the death
of Mr Ralph Okey Mgbodile who he alleged assaulted his wife.
Saturday Sun gathered that the incident, which occurred at
their 30, Mangbesa Street residence in Kirikiri town, Lagos, started
when the deceased’s last born defecated at the entrance of Orochenedu’s
room. This sparked a hostile reaction and insults from the wife of the
suspect.
On getting home, Orochendu in an attempt to defend his family went
into a fight with the late Mgbodile. They were, however, separated, but
Mgbodile did not recover from the beating he got as he slumped and died
minutes after the fight.
Policemen attached to Kirikiri police station detained Orochendu
while his wife, Ndidi, escaped to an unknown destination. She was later
fished out by the policemen attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad
(SARS), of the state police command, Ikeja, who were detailed to find
her.
At the police station where she is being detained, Ndidi claimed
that it was the thought of being lynched that made her flee the compound
when it became obvious that her neighbour, Mgbodile had died. “I was
terrified that angry neighbours could kill me. I have five children and
cannot afford to die because of an issue that I contributed little or
nothing to”, she stated.
She recounted that all she did was to tell her husband to reach out
to their neighbours and warn them to respect her. “On November 1, 2014,
I was cooking in front of our door as that is the only available space
in the compound for tenants to cook. Suddenly, Mgbodile instructed his
son to stay in front of their door and defecate. I pleaded that I was
cooking and that he should be relocated to another place. He told his
son to ignore me. He asked me to go and build my house if I wanted some
privacy. I felt bad because no person who witnessed a man defecating in
front of a place where his food is kept will find that food edible”, she
narrated.
Although she was very angry, Ndidi claimed that she managed to
control herself and walked into the room to call her husband. “My
husband was not in the house at that moment, so I called him on phone.
Minutes later, he returned and went straight to confront our neighbour. I
was in the room because I do not want to be seen to be intruding when
men are discussing. I was hearing voices as they came out to the
passage. It was then that I saw Mgbodile slap my husband, but as a
gentleman, he refused to retaliate. The neighbours, who had gathered,
were able to separate them. Mgbodile moved to his door and was about to
pick something from the floor when he slumped. We were shocked when it
was confirmed that he is dead.”
Seriously defending her husband, Ndidi said that her husband is not
the aggressive type and cannot hurt a fly. “In the history of our
marriage, my husband has never raised his hands at me. We have lived for
more than 14 years in this compound and neighbours can testify to the
fact that we do not quarrel. He is a unique trailer driver. I don’t know
what actually went wrong with him, that my husband had to pay dearly
for.”
Trying to justify why she went into hiding when she heard that her
husband had been arrested, Ndidi said it was out of fear. “I was warned
that the children of the man could kill me. I kept in touch with my
in-laws and they told me not to worry. They were the ones that told me
that he is now remanded at Ikoyi prisons. I have even gone there to see
him. He told me to be strong, that God will see him through. My husband
is innocent, only God knows what killed that man”, she said, wailing.
While Ndidi is hoping and praying that her husband and herself should
be released, Mrs Nnenna Mgbodile, whose husband died, is lost on what
to do with her five children. “I don’t know what to do? I don’t know
where to start. Who will help me to train these children? If life was
better for us, we will not be living in this type of house,” Nnenna, who
is a petty trader, sobbed.
Still finding it hard to control her tears when
Saturday Sun visited
their house in Kirikiri, Nnenna said her only wish is that the killer
of her husband should not go unpunished. “Our greatest challenge is
that we do not have money for the autopsy and the police said that this
is the only way the true cause of death can be ascertained.”
At that point, her first daughter, Jennifer took over the narration
of the story behind the sudden death of her father. “It started about
12pm, the lady opposite our room by name, Mrs Ndidi Orochendu was
cooking at her doorstep while the last born of our house was defecating
in a bowl at our side, as there was no other place for him to go to
toilet than that place. She was angry, but it was not the first time as
that was the place he had been going to toilet since he was a child.
“She started shouting at my dad because he was around and inside at
that time. I was sleeping and started hearing noises, listening to the
insults that she hurled at my father. According to her, she said that
she and her husband could not eat my brother’s feces. The problem is
that we don’t have a backyard. My dad called me and sent me to buy
toilet roll that I would use to clean up my brother. I did that and
hurriedly cleaned him up but she was still shouting, waiting for a reply
from us but we did not respond.
“I thought it had ended there, but she started telling people around
what had happened. She later stopped for a while. Around 4pm, my dad
dressed up and said he was going for a meeting and that he will return
late because he would watch a football match from there. I myself went
for a choir practice at my church. Getting back at night, my kid sister
was the one at home and she told me our dad was outside receiving fresh
air as that was his normal practice whenever he comes back from work.
My sister called him to eat his food but he said he was coming because
he was still discussing ball. That night, she was outside also
discussing the issue with a neighbour, Mama Queen. Those who were
friends with her were telling her to fight, knowing full well that this
man’s family especially the children could not defend themselves.
“She called her husband who was meant to go to work. I don’t know
what she told her husband, who came out and confronted my father. My
dad told him that he would have at least asked him before trying to
fight. As my father was still speaking, he punched my father on the
stomach. People were around even though they denied it; I don’t know why
they did not separate them. Though some people said the man used stick
on my dad, some said he slapped my dad. It was then a man came and
separated them. He moved away from the scene staggering, looking for
his slippers and that was when he fell face downwards to the ground and
died. This happened around 10:30pm. We did not know he was dead that
night till the next morning.”
