House wife pierces neighbour’s heart with knife during scuffle in Lagos

SATURDAY, June 22,2013, will for a long time remain indelible in the memory of Godwin Olah, 37, following an incident that claimed the life of his 28- year-old wife, Stella, during a row with a neighbour  identified as Stella Omoigiafo Gilbert (31). The suspect, a mother of one, allegedly pierced the heart of the deceased, a mother of three aged between six and three, with a knife after a scuffle in their compound.

The grieving husband of the deceased who hails from Obudu local Government Area of Cross River State, Godwin, told Crime Alert at their number 59, Ojora Street, Ajegunle, Lagos residence that the suspect also inflicted severe injuries on his wife’s hand before piercing her heart resulting to her death. Amidst tears, he narrated his ordeal since the untimely death of his wife.

His story: ”It happened that on June 22, 2013, at about 6pm, one of my sisters came calling on us. I decided to carry one small bench at the front of a neighbour’s house for the visitor to sit inside our room. Immediately, Stella, our neighbour, rushed out of her room and accosted me, asking why I should carry the bench inside. The owner of the bench, on hearing our argument, came out and asked her to let us be, but she refused, instead she went inside, brought out hot water and poured on us. I reasoned that if I engage in a fight with her, it might result to some serious consequences, so, I went to the police station at Ajaromi and reported the case.

*Stella

“On getting back to the house, I saw my wife lying on the corridor in front of our room. I shook her but no response came from her, and the lady that engaged her in a fight was nowhere to be found. Hence, I went back to the station the second time to report of her death. The Police sent an officer to accompany me and see things for herself.  The officer came, saw the lifeless body of my wife on the corridor and we went back to the station where she made her report.

The Police also requested that I get a report from the General Hospital here in Ajegunle. I took the body of my wife there and she was confirmed dead on arrival. There after, with the help of some good Samaritans around, I took her body to the Naval hospital mortuary, but she was rejected because we did not go with a police report.  I brought her back and laid her on the floor in our room until the next morning.

Then, I went back to the police station and was given a police van to convey her to Lagos Island mortuary. She has been at the morgue for a month and three days now. Since then, our children have been sleeping at their aunt’s house, I go there every night to pass the night with them because they can’t sleep if I am not there with them.”

Crime Alert gathered from an eye witness that after the accused poured hot water on Godwin Olah and his visiting sister, his wife went to her room to accost her on why she should treat her husband and sister in-law in such manner, a fight ensued between both women and in the process, the accused tried to drag the deceased to the stove where she was cooking to burn her, but when she discovered she could not drag Stella Godwin (the deceased) to the fire, she brought out a knife and pierced through her right arm and her heart.

“Stella died as a result of the knife wound on her heart; the fight was so fierce that we all took off, returning only to see Stella Godwin lying in a pool of her blood on the corridor in front of their room,” the eye witness said.

Another neighbour also told Crime Alert on condition of anonymity that there have been a no- love -lost relationship between the two neighbours. “Before that incident, both neighbours had lived like cat and rat in this compound. They quarrelled at the slightest misunderstanding. I wish they listened to us, this would have been averted.”

Genesis: Tracing the genesis of the quarrel between his family and the suspect, the husband of the victim also said he fell out with the accused who also shared the same first name (Stella) with his deceased wife, after he prevented her from using a knife on her (the suspect) sister during a scuffle. “I have lived in this compound for 20 years now. I was here when she rented her room. We lived as good neighbours, she was best of friends with my wife. It wasl the day I stopped the lady from using a knife to inflict injuries on her sister during a fight that she saw me, my wife and our children as enemies, “ he stated.

It was gathered that the body of the deceased has been conveyed to her home town in Obudu- Akwa-Ibom state for burial; while the accused Stella Omoigiafo Gilbert was remanded in prison custody after she was arraigned at the magistrate court in Ebute Metta.