WHY will a woman kill her husband, their three children and herself? These are the questions the police in Benue State are trying to proffer answers to after Mrs. Rochelle Adetsav unexpectedly ended her husband’s life, their children’s and her own.
“The man, Mr. Nicholas Adetsav, a staff of Makurdi Local Government Council, and his children, were killed on Friday night in Makurdi. His wife, who we believe is responsible for the death of the quartet, also killed herself,” spokesman for the state police command, Moses Yamu said.
“From information available to us, the woman had been having issues with her husband which might have culminated into this,” Yamu said.
The children’s names were given as Nguavese (F) (6), Evelyn (F) (4) and Joshua (M) (2).
The couple, who lived on Vandeikya Street, were both staff of Makurdi Local Government Council.
“They had been having issues. Just yesterday (Friday), the woman was seen with a pestle trying to smash her husband’s car. No one knows the cause of their frequent fights,” he said.
He said that Police personnel sent to the house found the man foaming in the mouth, the three kids already dead, while the woman, also dead, was found holding a knife in her hands.
“The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
“From what we have gathered, the couple fought on a daily basis,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Yamu said that investigation had begun to determine the reasons for the actions, while the corpses have been deposited at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Hospital, Makurdi.
A neighbour of the late couple, James Omale, told The Nation that about 8:30pm, the woman smashed the windscreen of her husband’s car with a pestle.
“After that, she rushed back into the house where she hit her husband Adetsav with the pestle at the back of the neck and thereafter slaughtered her three children and stabbed herself to death,” he said.
Omale said neighbours called the DPO of B. Division who responded quickly with his men forcing the door of the couple’s apartment open only do find the five of them in a pool of blood dead.
The Police spokesman Moses Yamu also said that the Police found the man foaming in the mouth, the three kids already dead, while the woman, also dead, was found holding a knife in her hands.
The Chairman, Makurdi Local Government Council, Mrs. Akange Audu, confirmed that the couple were employees of the local government council.
“The husband worked in the Department of Finance while his wife worked with the Department of Agriculture,” she said.
She also confirmed that the couple “were always fighting”, adding that the woman had warned neighbours to stay off their fights.
One of the neighbours says she stopped intervening on their quarrels when Mrs. Adetsav threatened her with a knife during one of such interventions.
A cross section of the neighbours, who spoke to NAN, said that the couple had been having issues.
They said that the couple had been fighting since Friday afternoon, but no one appeared sure of the cause of their fights.
One of the neighbours told NAN that she stopped intervening on their quarrels when Mrs. Adetsav threatened her with a knife during one of such interventions.