Some unknown person(s) had gruesomely murdered a 35-year-old mother of four, Mrs. Martha Ifeoma Ifewulu, in her residence at Oke-Afa, Isolo area of Lagos state.
According to Sun reports, the children received the shock of their lives on the fateful day, Monday, December 1, 2014,when they returned from school only to see their mum in the pool of her own blood which flowed down the stairs.
On the fateful day, the deceased 52-year-old husband, Chief Lawrence Ugochukwu Ifewulu, had tried the late wife’s mobile number severally without success before he received a distress call from one of his tenants and on arrival, the sight of his wife’s corpse greeted him.
Narrating the tragic incident to journalists amidst tears, Ifewulu,who hails from Aniocha Local Government Area in Anambra State, said, “Up till this very moment, I can’t just imagine that this actually happened. But, actually, it happened. On Monday, 1st December, we had our morning devotion and rejoiced that we were able to make it to December as a family,” began Ifewulu.
“That morning, I was not really feeling fine and I thought of going for a medical checkup. I even jokingly asked her to go to the laboratory with me, but she declined because she wanted to go to Trade Fair to buy some things. So, I left the house around 10:30am. Even as I am talking to you now, I have not even gone for the result of the test because I left the laboratory around noon. When I wanted to leave the laboratory, I tried to call her to tell her I was leaving for the office but she did not pick the call. I kept calling her line up till 3pm but there was no response. I even got very annoyed wondering where she must have kept her phone. Getting to my office, after the usual traffic jam along the road, I got a call from one of our tenants, a woman.
“The woman was just crying and telling me to leave whatever I was doing and rush home. I asked her what happened, but she only said I should start coming immediately. I had to call one of my staff to drive me home because, due to my condition, I couldn’t even drive. Getting home, I could not imagine what I saw. I was told that when the children came back from school around 3:30pm and opened the door of the staircase, they just saw blood flowing down from the staircase. One of my girls tried to go upstairs and that was when she discovered my wife’s corpse and then raised the alarm.
“Neighbours came to the scene. It was when I got in around 5pm that I asked what happened. The chairman of our estate was the one that called the DPO of Ejigbo Police Division and informed him about the incident.
“The police came down within 30 minutes of getting the news. They went round, took pictures, and took away all that was at the scene as exhibits. Her wristwatch, wedding ring (which must have fallen from her hand when struggling with the killers), phones and everything else, were intact. Even her phone kept ringing.
While maintaining that he never had issues with anybody tohave warranted the wife’s gruesome murder, he said, “I run my business all alone, and I can’t recall having any issue with anybody either in business or on the street. What will bring about such? If it is a matter of losing money that can cause a quarrel between me and anyone and I would just forget about the money.”
Meanwhile, Mr Ifewulu demanded that proper investigations should be carried out in order that the perpetrators of theact would be fished out and brought to book.
“I believe in the police and I trust that they can do it. I want the culprits fished out and that is the only way I can be satisfied right now,” said the bereaved husband.
Confirming theincident, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, said investigations are ongoing although the case had been transferred from Ejigbo Police Station to the State CID headquarters at Panti, Yaba.
“A crime has been committed and the police have a duty to thoroughly investigate it,” Nwosu said.
