CONFESSION OF A HOUSEWIFE: I POURED HOT WATER ON MY HUSBAND BECAUSE I WAS ANGRY OVER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Ramota Bello, a housewife arrested by Ogun State Police Command for sending her husband, Bello Saliu, to the grave by allegedly pouring hot water on him while asleep, has said it was in reaction to the way her husband beat her mercilessly over a minor issue of forgetting to cook for children staying with them.
Nigerian Tribune learnt it was the scalding water that painfully woke Saliu up from sleep on February 12. He sustained third degree burns all over his chest, back, hands and part of the head region.
Unfortunately, he died the following day after succumbing to the injuries. Ramota, who was living in Abeokuta with her husband before the incident, was arrested in her parents’ house in Igboora, Oyo State, where she was asked to relocate by the family of the deceased.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the command, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the incident was reported at Lafenwa divisional headquarters in Abeokuta that the suspect had a minor disagreement with her husband but decided to boil water and pour it on him while he was asleep, causing him severe burns.
The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Lafenwa division, CSP Kayode Shadrach, was said to have sent his detectives after the suspect, leading to her arrest.
Oyeyemi said that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation and diligent prosecution.
In an interview, the Igboora, Oyo State-born Fulani housewife had this to say: “I have been married to my husband for about five years ago and have two children for him – a boy and a girl.
I came to live in Abeokuta with my husband after leaving my parents in our Igboora home.
“My husband was a Quranic teacher and had children staying with him for Islamic teachings. He made it my duty to be cooking for them and I did it diligently and with commitment until the night I slept off. My husband was not around, so I slept early and missed cooking their dinner.
“When my husband came back and heard complaints from the children that I did not feed them, he was so infuriated that he descended on me and started beating me at about 5am on February 12. His parents and others were around. I cried.
“His action made me so angry that I thought in my heart that he should be punished for his deed. At about 8am, while he was asleep after morning prayer, I went to boil water and poured it on him. It was the devil that pushed me to such anger.
“My husband woke up with the pain and shouted. His parents rushed in. We are all related. He was quickly taken to a hospital while I was brought to my mother in Igboora and she was told of how I poured hot water on my husband.”
Ramota recounted on how her husband was used to beating her before the last one, saying that his parents usually reprimanded him but he would not listen.
“My parents also used to inform his too, but he did not change his attitude,” she added.
She also disclosed that her two children had been put in the custody of her husband’s relation.
“I want the government to forgive me. I was just angry because of the maltreatment. It is the devil’s work,” Ramota pleaded.
@ Nigerian Tribune
