A 40-year-old father of six, Patrick Markson, has reportedly killed his wife with sledge hammer, over alleged protracted marital dispute.
The incident occurred Thursday morning, at Odede Street, in the Tombia Amassoma Road area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The 35-year-old wife, simply identified as Hannah, is from Okotiama community, in Gbarain Clan, Yenagoa, the state capital.
The 40-year-old husband said to be a staff of civil servant with Yenagoa Local Government Area Council, was said to have hit his wife on the head with the sledge hammer, while she was sleeping.
The woman reportedly died on the spot.
The husband later took his own life by drinking a poisonous substance, after which he laid close to the bleeding corpse of his wife and died.
Elder sister to the deceased wife, Mrs. Boufuru Timipre, narrated the gory tale of how the couple died.
“Yesterday we were frying garri, and the husband called me that he wanted to speak with my sister if we were together, and I told him that when I get to where she was I will pass the message.
“On reaching her, I told her and immediately we tried reaching him but we couldn’t. Later, he called again, but I have left where she was, so he told me to tell her to bring garri for home use.
“This morning, the son called me that the mum was seen dead and he wants me to come.
“As I was going to the house, I called him and ask of the dad and he told me the dad too was dead.
“When I got to their house, I went straight to the room, and I saw them both lying on the bed dead, but I noticed a can of snipper by the bed and a big hammer.”
She added that they had matrimonial issues but she has often spoken and settled both of them as husband and wife.
“The genesis of their problems was when my husband died and I had a contract which I engaged him to benefit from. After the contract, he got N800,000 for himself and never gave anything to the wife, she was bitter and she reported the issue to me.
“I approached him and told him what he did was bad to have treated her like that, because I involved him due to the facts that he married my sister, but I didn’t suspect it will result to this,” she added.
The head of Aputu family, Chief Anthony Jacob, expressed shock at the development, describing it as a sad development.
The spokesman of the Bayelsa Police Command, Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the incident, said the corpses of the deceased couple have been evacuated to the mortuary.
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