A 40-year-old woman, Helen Okeke, aka Mama Chinedu, who was
accused of slitting her neighbour’s throat with a knife in the Ikota, Ajah area
of Lagos State, has said she is possessed by a spirit.
The Okigwe, Imo State indigene, said she never knew that
Rosemary died until when she was arrested by the police.
Okeke, who said she was unmarried and had a son out of wedlock,
asked the family of the deceased to forgive her, as she was not in control of
herself during the incident.
Our correspondent had reported on Monday that Okeke and Rosemary
were neighbours in the Ikota Housing Estate.
On Wednesday last week, Rosemary, who was reportedly preparing
for her wedding, returned home and observed that the clothes she spread on her
door had been soiled with urine.
She was said to have suspected Okeke and reported to the
landlady who pacified her.
However, some minutes after meeting with the landlady,
neighbours were said to have been jolted by a sudden cry for help.
Okeke was alleged to have slit Rosemary’s neck with a knife
during a brawl and was found with a blood-stained knife at the scene of the
crime.
Rosemary was said to have died on her way to the hospital.
The matter, which was reported at the Ajah Police Division,
Ajiwe, was later transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation,
Yaba.
During a chat with our correspondent on Monday, Okeke, who works
as a cleaner, said it was not the first time she would have a quarrel with Rosemary.
She said, “I have been living in that house for more than two
years. The first time we fought, she shone her torch on me and I queried why
she did that. She then hit me with the torch, and that was how we fought.
“The landlady, Alhaja, never gave me any quit notice as she
claimed. I was even the one preparing to leave the apartment because it was too
small for me.”
Okeke said the victim had challenged her to a fight on the
fateful day while she was in her room.
She said she never wanted to come out until “a spirit” entered
into her room and pushed her out.
She said, “On that day, she carried a bucket of water and stood
in front of my room saying I should come out
if I know I was woman enough.
“I had just returned from where I went to buy bread and was
inside my room. I did not want to come out.
“But a spirit just entered into my room and entered me. I was
shaking uncontrollably and that was when I went out.
“I took a bucket of water and poured it on the floor in front of
my room. But Rosemary poured her bucket of water on me, and that was when the
fight started.”
She said in the ensuing scuffle, she found a knife in front of
her room.
“I cannot explain what happened next. I have never had this kind
of experience in my life. It was while I was at the police station that they
said she was dead.
“I need forgiveness from Rosemary and her family. I want people to learn from my example that fighting is not good,” she said
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