Mrs Kemi Fadipe, wife of the late Lagos human rights activist, Kunle Fadipe, yesterday told a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, how the alleged killer, Oluwaseun Oladapo, stabbed her husband, mother, son and sister.
Testifying as the first prosecution witness before Justice Atinuke Ipaye, the widow narrated how her husband sustained several injuries before he died in a hospital.
Oladapo (25), a carpenter and a resident of 24, Osho St, Panseke, Abeokuta, Ogun State, is facing a five-count charge of murder, armed robbery and assault occasioning harm.
He is also standing trial for the murder of Fadipe’s mother-in-law, Mrs Cecilia Owolabi.
Mrs. Fadipe said the incident occurred on July 3, last year at 10pm after the deceased returned home from the office.
She said: “After his meal, he retired to his room and my sons went to their room adjacent his. My sister, Abiola Owolabi, who worked with him at his chambers, lived with us and my mother, who came for an eye surgery, was with us at home.
“The generating set was on because there was no light. So, I asked my 17-year-old son, Folahanmi, to switch off the generator. After about five minutes, I heard him shouting: ‘My daddy, my daddy, there is a thief in the house’.
Mrs. Fadipe further testified that accused chased her son into the living room, where he later stabbed him and three others. She said the type of knife he used was not the average kitchen knife type, and that it looked like it was glued to his hand.
She said: “He (the accused) began threatening us with a knife, shouting that somebody was going to die that night. I was scared and hid behind my husband. He said the house was surrounded by other members of his gang and demanded for N500,000, but we kept begging him.
“My husband then asked me to get the envelope in his trousers, which contained some money and handed it over to the defendant, but the defendant reacted by slapping him and hitting him on the neck, at which point all of us got angry and rushed at him, pushing him.
“Immediately, he began stabbing my mother, son and sister. He also stabbed my husband in the neck with the knife.”
Mrs. Fadipe said when help finally came, it was too late.
“That was when the OPC (Odua Peoples Congress) people entered and over powered him.
“We took my husband to a hospital some minutes before 12am but he died some minutes past 1am. My mother died two weeks after she heard of my husband’s death.”
During cross examination by the defendant’s counsel, Worer Obuagbakahe, she admitted that she could not say what transpired between her son and the defendant downstairs where he went to switch off the generating set, adding that they had been living in the estate for over 15 years.
The widow also maintained that she did not know if the defendant’s cloth was wet or not, adding that their gate is not easy for anyone to open from outside without a key, because it has a jam lock.
In her testimony, the deceased’s sister-in-law, Abiola Owolabi, who was also stabbed, told the court that the accused stabbed her brother-in-law in several parts of his body.
She added that all efforts by members of the family to overpower him by hitting him on the head were not successful, as the accused ‘was too powerful’ for them.
“He was very strong and had the strength of 10 persons,” she said.
Owolabi said she returned home with the late Fadipe on the day of incident and they were all watching the news when the TV lost its DSTV signal.
She said: “We all got up to go to bed. I went to the shower and saw through the window of my bathroom that electricity had been restored. I called Folahan to switch off the generator.
“Not long after I heard him shouting my name ‘Aunty Biola! Daddy! There is a thief in the compound!’ He ran inside because the door was open.
Owolabi maintained that she did not know the amount in the envelope, adding that the suspect requested for a laptop and phones, threatening them that others had surrounded the house and if they refused to cooperate he would call them to join him.
“Subsequently, Fadipe told him that the laptop and phone were downstairs, that we should go. He (defendant) slapped him with the knife in his hand, and hit him on the neck and in his left leg. In the process he started stabbing everybody in every direction.
“He stabbed my late mum on her left breast, stabbed Folahan in the forehead, and stabbed me in my left hand.
“Folatunmise, the second son of the late Fadipe, ran out to call the OPC men, leaving me, the widow and Folahan in the living room with the defendant.
“When he returned, he met the late Fadipe lying on the floor. At that time we were still struggling with the defendant who was trying to escape, before I used a window blind to cover his face.
“That was when the OPC men came in and we left him with them. We all rushed to join Folatunmise outside where we met him (Fadipe) in a pool of blood on the floor.
“We tried to rush him to the hospital, but we couldn’t find the gate key. We later saw a taxi that took us to the hospital.”
Justice Ipaye adjourned the matter till November 18 for cross examination of the second prosecution witness
