By Ngozi Nwoke
On February 19, officers of the Lagos State Police Command arrested a house help, Noah Matthew, for allegedly killing his employer, Mrs. Caroline Uba, 40, with a knife in the Ajah area of the state. Uba was reportedly stabbed in the heat of an argument that ensued between them.
Thereafter, the suspect carted away some valuables in his employer’s house, loaded them into her car and ran off from the scene of the crime. However, karma caught up with him when he was accosted by policemen on patrol duty who suspected his moves, arrested and detained him.
Lekan Adekanbi, the driver of a former employee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kehinde Fatinoye, confessed on February 10 to killing the Fatinoyes.
Fatinoye, his wife, Bukola, a former staff of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and their only son, were murdered on New Year Day, because, according to him, “the couple refused to increase his salary, and grant his loan request to buy a motorcycle.”
Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye were killed in the most gruesome manner at their apartment at the GRA Abeokuta, Ogun State, on New Year Day, immediately after they returned from the crossover service. The murderers also set their bodies ablaze to cover their crime.
Adekanbi, aka Koroba, who had been the couple’s driver since 2018, made the confession after his arrest and his two accomplices – Ahmed Odetola, aka Akamo and Waheed Adeniji aka Koffi, confessed to the operatives of the state police command that he invited the other two suspects to join him to rob his boss.
Also, in December 2022, the CEO of Empire’s Villa Hotel, Lagos, Gbenga Adeshina, was murdered in his Magodo home allegedly by his Togolese cook, Bridget Bafor. According to the police, Bafor saw the absence of Adeshina’s family as an opportunity to carry out her evil plan. She broke into his bedroom and allegedly stabbed him to death with a knife, and made away with his jewellery amd other items. The case is still before the Igbosere High Court in Lagos.
Similarly, at 11.50pm in October 2022, Mrs. Amarachi Wellington was murdered in cold blood with a knife by her Ghanaian home help, Abena Akosua , at her Bell Estate, Ikeja, Lagos, home. On the morning of that tragic day, Akosua reportedly requested a two-week leave, instead of the official one-week leave, but his request was not granted.
He was said to have made the request a second time later when his boss returned from work in the evening. As he was turned down again, the furious Akosua grabbed a knife and stabbed Wellington in the stomach, which resulted in her death. He is still undergoing trial before the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere.
The sole purpose of engaging domestic workers is to help their employers with activities such as babysitting, shopping, laundry, housework, preparing meals and running errands. This is also to enable employers have more time to rest, have less stress and elongate their lives.
However, in recent times, one could say the essence of engaing domestic workers has become a scary task as sad events in the reports have proven that house helps are daringly taking the lives of their employers, mostly due to disagreements, greed and desire to loot their property, and end up causing families undeserved grief.
The analytical pattern of these murders shows that male employees are the highest perpetrators than the female employees who are equally dangerous. Research also shows that aside from being culprits in murder cases, they indulge in gossips and mischievous acts, tell lies about almost everything which explains why they cannot be trusted.
Mrs. Adaeze Chuwkuemeka, CEO, Sail Eduatainment Magazine, and mother of two, expressed that she single-handedly raised her children without the help of a domestic staff for the fear of exposing her family to danger and fear of having her husband snatched by a female housekeeper.
She said: “Domestic workers, especially the females are terrible pain in the neck. Instead of being helpers to you as the name implies, they become your worst nightmare. I haven’t experienced anyone of them, but I learnt and took my decision not to engage any domestic worker from my sister’s encounter.
“My sister’s children were morally derailed by her house help. This girl taught the children how to watch phonographic video on their phones, she indulged the kids in so many unprintable acts.
“By the time my sister found out, it was late because her two children, a boy and a girl, were committing incestuous acts right under her nose and she didn’t know because she so trusted her house help, took her as a member of the family. Even when she laid off the worker, the damage caused on the children was already irreparable. It took lots of counselling, therapy and prayers before her children were revived. “I didn’t have to be a victim before taking my decision. Right from that moment I saw the consequences of hiring a house help, I took my decision never to hire a house help. You are afraid of being poisoned, especially if you are too busy to cook your meals. You have to worry about your family being attacked. You have to worry about your husband being snatched or seduced by the female employee. So many things to worry about. For me, raising my children alone was not an easy task but it was worth it because it helped create a bond between my children and I.”
To prove that not all domestic workers share similar character trait, Mrs Esther Ogbozor also narrated her ordeal with a former domestic worker. She said: “I and my family were very lucky to have got a decent housekeeper when we had our second child. She was so much advanced in age, perhaps that was why I felt so comfortable with her. She was reliable, truthful, hard working and transparent. She enjoyed her job so much that she catered for my family like it was hers. I felt bad whenever she went on her leave. It was so extreme that I became selfish when I pleaded with her one certain time not to go on leave and promised to increase her salary. She became so attached to me emotionally that I didn’t want to let go of her for a day.
“She works hard and was a disciplinarian, the type they call a no-nonsense person. She was very prayerful and a devout Christian. Our understanding was mutual and it helped to build our working relationship with love, affection, kindness, respect, and trust. She never disappointed us. Everyday, I thanked God for connecting us to her.”
For security purposes, the need for homes to install a CCTV cannot be overemphasized as footages has revealed how domestic staff molest, assault, and inflict excruciating pains on the children left in their care. The safety of the entire household is in the hands of the cook who prepares the meals, the driver who takes the children to school, the security man who secures the house and the cleaner who has access to your bedroom.
Joshua Edet also made good remarks about some domestic staff. He said: “My family is blessed to have Ifiok, our security guard of 15 years. He is a Muslim, while we are Christians, but we have no religious differences. For us, the religion or tribe of an employee doesn’t matter to us. What matters is if we can trust the person, if not wholeheartedly, at least to a little level.
“Our children are still tender in age. So, we are extremely careful and go the extra mile to carry out background checks on every domestic staff we employ. We also ensure that they are well taken care of. We don’t give them any form of ill-treatment whatsoever. We pay their salaries as and when due. These mechanisms have kept us going without having crisis.”
The experience of Ogbozor and Edet show that not all domestic workers are a threat to one’s life. Nonetheless, applying extra care and caution is compulsory. Some disguise as the proverbial wolves in sheep clothing, that could be a antic for employers to loose their guards and they use the opportunity to strike.
With the alarming cases of murder by house helps which has heightened fear in households, security experts have recommended thorough screening and safety guards to avert potential dangerous domestic workers.
A Lagos-based security expert, Mr Mandu Obot, of Alarm Button Nigeria Limited, said doing background checks on a potential house help would spare employers of trouble. Likening employing a home help to employing someone for a job in the corporate world, he, however, stated that many employers did not usually carry out background checks on their home helps before employing them.
He said: “First, we look at the causes of domestic workers killing their employers which includes poor or no recruitment process. Poor or no background checks. No proper documentation. Poor handling of relationship between boss and staff. Excessive information made available to maid and domestic help hands. Poor living conditions/ poor welfare of domestic workers.
“Employers must carryout adequate and thorough background checks on domestic staff they employ. Poor or no background checks put them and the entire household at risk. Some persons employed are actually miscreants and misfits in the society. The employer may feel he or she is lending a helping hand, not knowing that the person is a non repentant criminal or serial killer.
“Some people also feel that helpers should be maltreated and in the display of personal wealth and affluence the helper is allowed to starve and be dehumanised without pity and when an opportunity provides itself, the helper becomes vulnerable to be enticed to hurt and make gains. Some employers personally abuse their staff physically and emotionally.
“CCTV is highly recommended for security checks and monitoring, because a review of CCTV footage may provide early warning signs of possible threats. Full security professional documentation and background checks, including vetted guarantors and references checks for character assessment. Clear terms of employment must be discussed and signed.”
Another security expert, Mr Keneth Akuwuigwe, noted: “In some cases, many employere cause harm to themselves by employing house helps based on trust or because they are familiar with them. The fact that someone looks calm, quiet, responsible and harmless is not enough reason to qualify the person as a domestic staff. They must be properly screened before employment.
“There are many cases of people who employ house helps simply because they met them in their places of worship or because based on referral by someone close. Therefore, they do not carry out any background checks to be sure of the domestic worker. In fact, the screening exercise must include mental examination and emotional stability that has to do with the person’s temperament.
“Even in the corporate industry, an HR or hiring manager cannot just employ a candidate for a job without guarantors. They go as far as screening the guarantors of the candidate, not to even talk of the candidates themselves. It is unfortunate that the opposite is sometimes the case as we see some people employing house helps because they are of the same tribe or religion.”
Akuwuigwe warned against hiring domestic workers without “thorough screening,” adding that a professional hiring agency should be outsourced to screen potential domestic workers before hiring them.
“It is devastating to read in the news about people who have worked hard tirelessly all their lives and have retired to enjoy the rest of their lives with their hard earned resources, only to be murdered in cold blood by greedy and evil-minded house helps. It looks like their targets are the elderly people. I read a story of how an elderly woman of 80-years-old was strangled to death by her house maid only because of her gold jewellery. Someone’s precious life was sniffed off because of common jewellery. And when they are eventually caught by the law, they blame their evil deeds on the devil. Please, anyone intending to hire a domestic staff should go through a reputable agency. Even after the agency have done their checks, the employer should still carty out his due diligence.”
In the same vein, a concerned citizen, Mrs. Joanne Okpute, advised: “If possible, house helps should not be allowed to live with their employer. The best and safe option is for domestic workers to work during the day and go back to their various homes after work. They should be made to work like other employees in the corporate world and return to their homes in the evening, just like 8am to 6pm job. This will prevent some evil plan from being hatched abd carried out.
“Also, the house help should be in the midst of at least two or three people in the house, not when only the employer is around. For example, a female employer should not be the only one around when a male house help is in the house or the reverse because these days we have heard lots of horrible experiences.”
Another concerned citizen, Chisom Udemba, said: “Some employers are usually careless that they make the mistake of having important business or personal conversations in the presence of their house helps. Vital information related to cash transactions, banking details, children’s secrets and other family matters should be hidden from house helps.
“The employer shouldn’t be the only one security conscious. Other immediate family members should abide by the security rules in the home. Ensuring adequate security is a collective responsibility for every household. People should not be loose in the presence of their driver or other domestic workers. Some of these domestic workers are envious of their employers and their family. “You may think you are doing them a favour by bringing them close to your family, but you end up shooting yourself in the leg. I’m not discouraging people from treating house helps with respect and dignity, I’m only saying while you treat them well like family, also do it cautiously because human beings are naturally unpredictable. The angel you think you know today, may turn out to be your worst undoing tomorrow.”
Confidence Robinson, who is also concerned about the disturbing menace, said that employer must leverage advanced technology to monitor the activities of people in their houses. “Some house helps invite strangers in your absence. Those strangers help them carry out their evil plans or even initiate the plans to them. But when you have undisclosed security gadgets installed at strategic points in the compound such as closed-circuit television, it gives you regular access to monitor their activities. You must make sure your domestic helpers are ignorant of the security gadgets to avoid them tampering with them.
“The question every employer needs to ask themselves is, can I trust this person with my kids? Your response will determine if you should go ahead to take the risk of employing them. Most people don’t realise that employing a total stranger to live in their home is a risk. People still take the risk but cautiously. Your driver can coerce with your mechanic to increase the cost of spare parts in the market. One fact I have come to know is that domestic workers collaborate to commit crimes. They don’t work alone. They always have an enabler or accomplice.”
Lagos-based psychologist consultant, Adolphus Osaroejiji, noted that murderers are psychologically and emotionally damaged, adding that moral degradation, depression, bad influence and drug abuse were responsible for all the decay in society today
“In a situation where parents do not take responsibility for feeding, accommodating, schooling and other welfare needs of the children, the parents are provoking the children and this may likely happen. Once a child becomes depressed, anything can happen, he can kill. Coupled with this is the peer group, which is more powerful than the parents.
“They influence these children to engage in drugs abuse, by telling them that it will take their minds off depression and convince them that their parents are well-to-do but don’t take care of them. So, by the time he gets intoxicated with drugs, he will kill the parents without remorse because he’s been made to hate them.
“So long as parents continue giving birth to children they cannot cater for, the problem will persist. The solutions must be multifaceted, which include public enlightenment through parents and community leaders, youth empowerment, because without employment one cannot predict what the youth can do.”
He attributed the root cause of the recent murders to envy, hate, anxiety and depression.
“Unfortunately, our youth are taking illicit substances before they indulge in these acts. To avoid the consequences and the impact, they end up abusing drugs to reduce tension and guilt, and end up becoming addicts in the long run. There must be interventions from parents, community and government through counselling sections, empowerment programmes and public enlightenment programmes.”