N2,000 palaver: Policeman crushes wife, kills baby

Like a scene from a horror movie, a police
corporal, Lucky Ikharia, on October 30, allegedly used a bus to crush the legs of his wife, Dupe.

Having left her for dead, Lucky went home where
he allegedly stabbed his baby, David, to death, ripping out the toddler’s intestines.
Still in a rage, the policeman turned the knife on himself in an attempt to take his own life.

PUNCH Metro, however, learnt that Lucky and his wife survived but both were in critical conditions.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident occurred at the family’s rented apartment in Kale Close,
Mafoluku, Oshodi last week.

Our correspondent gathered that four days prior to the incident, 34-year-old Lucky, who hails from
Sabon Gida Ora, Edo State, had a quarrel with his wife, Dupe over N2,000, after which he reportedly
sent her packing.

The policeman, who is attached to the Makinde Police Division, Oshodi, Lagos had also ‘seized’
their only child from Dupe as a means of
‘punishing’ her.

PUNCH Metro learnt that around 8pm on the day of the attack, Dupe, a 30-year-old indigene of Abeokuta, Ogun State, was heading for her
mother’s house in Mushin unknown to her that Lucky was waiting in a bus to attack her.

It was learnt that on getting to Olorunshogo
junction, Lucky pursued his wife with the bus, crushing her legs in the process.
Leaving her for dead, Lucky was said to have fled the scene while passersby initially thought the
attack was random.

However, after Dupe was rushed to a nearby hospital on same evening for treatment and had
regained consciousness the following morning, she explained that the man who drove the bus which
crushed her legs was her own husband.

Unknown to Dupe, after her husband attacked her, he reportedly drove back to their apartment where
he stabbed their child, David, in the belly, before fleeing the residence.

Our correspondent learnt that Lucky’s co-tenants and Dupe’s relatives who discovered the baby’s
corpse on Friday morning, reported the incident at the Akinpelu Police Division. It was also gathered
that the knife and the bus had both been
recovered.

When PUNCH Metro visited the hospital where Dupe was receiving treatment on Monday, the
woman, who could hardly speak. She said the cause of the fight was a sum of N2000 which
Lucky claimed she stole.

She said, “We got married and started living together around October 2013. We usually had
quarrels and that was not the first time he would beat me up, and send me out of the house. But this
incident started on Sunday, October 26. Lucky had
initially kept N15,000 with me.
“Then, on Sunday, he collected N5, 000 to repair
the bus. Later I gave him the rest, only to realise it
was N8, 000. So, he began to question where I kept
the remaining N2000. But I knew that it was his
nature to stir up trouble because he had a habit of
keeping money with me and going again to take it.
“So, we began to fight, and he asked me to leave
the house. He did not allow me to take the child
with me that day. I was sleeping in friends’ places
until Thursday when I decided to go back home. I
did not find my baby, and when I asked him, he
threatened that if he met me in the house by
evening, he would kill me, kill the baby and
himself.”
Dupe said she was then called by her mother to
come to their family house in Mushin, adding that
as she got on her way, and was at the
Olorunshogo junction, a commercial bus swerved
to her path and hit her several times.
She said, “The commercial bus was his bus. He
was the only man inside. He hit me and I fell. Then
he reversed and came over my legs again. I lost
consciousness. That was the last thing I knew.”
Our correspondent learnt from one of the nurses
that Dupe might be admitted in the hospital for
about two months and might spend over N600,000
for treatment owing to the severity of the attack.
One of Dupe’s relatives, Mr. Segun Akiode, told our
correspondent that the family had yet to inform
Dupe of her son’s death. He added that the family
also did not know Lucky’s whereabouts.
He said, “I was called on the phone on Thursday
evening that my sister was knocked down at
Olorunshogo junction. When I got there, I met her
in a pool of blood. So, we rushed her to a hospital.
It was already around 9.30pm.
“On Friday, when we went to their apartment, we
found the baby boy, stabbed in the belly and
already dead on the floor. We have not told Dupe
about his death yet. So, we went to report at the
Akinpelu Police Division, and we were asked to
describe the bus which hit Dupe. When we did,
they said the bus was with them in the station, but
the whereabouts of Lucky were still unknown.”