Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A young woman on Friday night killed her husband, three children and herself in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
The woman, Rachel, was said to have killed her husband, Nicholas Adestav, and slaughtered their three children, Ngwuavese, Senator and Joshua after which she was said to have stabbed herself to death.
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According to neighbours, trouble started between the young couple, who were both staff of the Makurdi Local Government Area, about 8 p.m. on Friday, when suddenly they heard the sound of someone breaking the windscreen of a car within the compound.
One of the co-tenants, Sandra Kaso, who spoke with our correspondent at their residence on Vandeikya street, said all efforts to settle the matter failed as the woman thereafter entered the room and locked the door, preventing other neighbours from gaining entrance into their apartment.
The tenant said the woman may have killed the husband before coming out to smash the windscreen of their gulf car after which she went back inside to kill her children and herself.
The woman was said to have first hit the husband with a pestle on the head and when he passed out, she thereafter cut his throat and then slashed the throats of their three children same way.
“When we heard the sound, we came out and found the woman breaking the windscreen of their vehicle. She then went inside and locked the door. We tried to prevail on her to open the door but she refused.
“At a point when the fight was becoming too prolonged, we had to alert the caretaker of the house so that he could call the police but he said if we couldn’t settle the matter, we would be held responsible if anything happened.
“By the time we called in the police about 9 p.m., she had already killed every member of the family. The police had to break open the door to find all members of the family dead in the pool of their blood.”
Residents of the area said the woman was a very troublesome person, who had sometime ago stabbed a co-tenant and the case was still in court.
Confirming the report, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Moses Yamu, said the corpses had been deposited at St. Theresa’s Mortuary and investigation had commenced into the matter.