A woman, allegedly irked with her husband over domestic trouble, burnt him to death with the help of his side chick in a village in Umueze district, Aba, Abia State. The duo sprayed petrol on the victim and burned him when he was sleeping around 3am on Thursday.
The deceased has been identified as 44-year-old Uchenna Ikechukwu.
Around 7pm, Ikechuwku, who is a mechanic, returned from the workshop where he worked. He had his dinner and busied himself watching TV till around 1am. Around 3am in the morning, his wife identified as Njideka (38) along with his alleged lover went inside Ikechukwu’s room where he was sleeping. Njideka carried a jug with petrol with which she sprinkled on her husband’s mouth and bed, then the other lady lit a match box in the husband’s mouth and fled the spot.
The fire later spread across the house and Ikechukwu was burnt alive. The neighbours informed the police about the incident after which a team of police and officials of the forensic science laboratory reached the spot for inspection.
The duo, hiding in an old uncompleted building located 10 kilometres away from the village, was caught on the basis of the footprints made in the sand dunes from the incident site.
The neighbours told police that Njideka got married to Uchenna Ikechukwu, resident of Isi-ala Ngwa village, 20 years ago but the couple used to have frequent fights. Because of the fights, the deceased man had built a separate house for the family to live.
The girlfriend an apprentice under her husband was said to had been in a firece fight with Mr. Ikechukwu two days before the incident.