family. Everybody, co-tenants, neighbours on the street, and even their
landlord attested to the fact that they were a good couple. And indeed after
11 solid years of matrimony, nobody will doubt that. But the bliss enjoyed
by this seemingly vintage family was torn to shred in one moment of anger, when
the husband was alleged to have thrown his wife from the balcony of the last
floor of their two-storey building. The woman suffered a fractured skull and
died one week later in a hospital in Asaba, the Delta State capital. Now the
man is being accused of murder and his family is disarray as he has been
arrested by the police.
Neighbours of the Okohs are still wondering how a
seemingly common argument suddenly turned tragic. The suspect, Okoh Patrick,
47, who is a school teacher, had an argument with his wife, Maria, over the use
of available fuel siphoned from her car to fuel their generator to watch the
Nigeria-Burkina Faso final duel during the just concluded Africa Cup of Nation
in South Africa. The argument became hot and heated and tempers flared. In the
ensued tantrum, it was alleged that Patrick angrily pushed his wife over the
balcony. The woman, who was on the fat side, fell on the railing and the
already rusty rail gave in under her weight and she went crashing from the top
floor to the ground. Consequently, her skull was fractured by the deadly
impact of hitting the hard ground.
When Sunday Express visited the compound where the
incident happened at 29, DLA Road, Asaba, neighbours expressed shocked at the
death of the 42-year-old receptionist. Speaking to SE, the landlord of the
compound, Pa Arinze Cosmos, revealed that the couple was the best couple that
has lived in his compound since he became a landlord.
“I was shocked when this happened. I was watching
the match when I heard noise outside. My son came in and told me that Patrick
threw his wife from upstairs. I didn’t agree. I have never seen them quarrel. I
have never heard two of them exchanged words. This is purely the work of the
devil,” he said.
Despite strong claims by the children of the
couple (who were the only witnesses to the incident) that it was not an
intentional act, the police still went ahead to charge the accused to court for
a possible case of manslaughter.
One of the couple’s three children, Kingsley Okoh,
a 14-year-old secondary school leaver, disclosed that the death was not
intentional. The teenager who is still reeling from the shock of the sudden
loss of his mother reconstructed that tragic moment. “We were watching the
match when PHCN interrupted the power supply. There was no fuel in our
generator at home. So instead of going outside to watch the match, my dad sent
me to siphon some fuel from my mum’s car to power the generator. At that time,
my mum was not around, but just before half time, she came back and asked how
we got the fuel we were using. I told her how we got it and she insisted that I
should switch off the generator and siphon the fuel back to her car. My dad
refused. That was when she made an attempt to go and switch off the generator
by herself. My father then tried to stop her. In the process, he pushed her and
she tripped and fell from the balcony.”
The victim was later rushed to the hospital, but
gave up the ghost after one week of receiving treatment for her fractured
skull. Attempts to get a statement from the police regarding the case ended in
futile as the officer in charge of the case was not available on the two
occasions SE visited the station. However, sources at the station confirmed
that the case has been charged to court.
Express
