By Lillian Okenwa
Intimate partner violence was taken notches higher when two different eight months pregnant women were brutally murdered by their husbands.
Days ago, the photo of 35-year-old Ntombizodwa Khumalo trended on social media after her ex-husband shot her in the full glare of people. She was eight months pregnant.
Earlier in the year, an Akure High Court, sitting in Ondo state, sentenced 34-year-old Oluwaseun Olabode, to death by hanging, for killing his eight-month-old, pregnant wife, Adaeze 0labode, three years ago at their Oke-Ogba Estate resident in Akure.
At about 7. 00 p.m. on 3 April 2020, Olabode, according to the prosecutors, hit his wife Adaeze Olabode, with a blunt object on the right side of her abdomen while she was heavily pregnant. She died as a result.
In his verdict, the trial judge, Hon. Justice A. Adebusoye, said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced Olabode to death by hanging.
The prosecutors led by H.M Falowo Esq, a Chief Legal Officer Falowo said the case of murder was reported on May 5, 2020, through a petition written to the Commissioner of Police, Ondo State Command, by one Dr Henry Orumen Esq. on behalf of the family of the deceased, Mrs Blessing Adaeze Olabode, against Olabode Oluwaseun.
Adaeze and Olabode got married in 2014. She was pregnant with their second child, which was found dead in her womb a few days before her demise.
According to the Police report, an autopsy report conducted on the corpse of the deceased showed that irregular bruises and abrasions on the right side of the lower part of her abdomen caused a trauma that was so intense to have ruptured her uterus. The complications reportedly led to Adaeze’s death.
While the convict, denied having fought with his wife, the deceased’s family insisted in their petition and testimonies before the court that she suffered assault from her husband several times which eventually led to her death.
In the course of his testimony, the father of the deceased, Mr. Anya, said that his daughter suffered violent maltreatment from her husband and mother-in-law, Stella Olabode.
“At a point in their marriage, my daughter attempted suicide and left a suicide note but l waded into the matter and brokered peace between the couple.
“After my daughter’s death on April 14, 2020, her corpse was abandoned at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owo, until the intervention of my immediate younger brother,” Anya said.
Another witness, a consultant pathologist, O.E Pelemo, said that he performed an autopsy on the corpse of Adaeze Blessing Olabode.
Pelemo told the court that he noticed irregular bruises and abrasions on the right side of the lower part of the deceased’s abdomen, and found the cause of death to be a wound caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen which resulted in an internal wound and bleeding.
The late Ntombizodwa Khumalo whose photograph was posted on Monday, May 8, 2023, by Women For Change, an NGO advocating for the protection of the constitutional rights of women in South Africa, was killed by her ex-husband, Jonnas Tebogo Mpete, at Brits Hospital in North West on 5 April 2023.
Eight months pregnant Ntombizodwa worked as a desk operator at the hospital. The suspect, a 39-year-old police officer stationed at Rapid Rail in Silverton, had allegedly threatened her for months before ultimately gunning her down in full view of the staff and patients at the hospital.
He handed himself over to the police after allegedly calling a family member, informing them that he had murdered Ntombizodwa. It is alleged that they got married in 2016, but five years into the marriage, she left him when the abuse worsened.
Her family said she often had bruises all over her body and that the family tried to intervene many times. It is alleged that the Ntombizodwa obtained a protection order against the accused in 2021. The suspect is now facing a charge of premeditated murder.
Similarly, a 25-year-old woman identified as Eunice has been butchered by her husband for seeking a divorce after one year of marriage. The sad event took place at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
Local publications reported that her husband macheted her during a scuffle and she died on the spot after the attack. The suspect was also said to have attacked his father-in-law.
Eunice had reportedly moved out of the house due to alleged emotional and physical abuse by her husband. Her father, Ebenezer Dwomoh, who confirmed her death during an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, said they are still in shock.
Dwomoh said Eunice went to her husband’s house to present a summon letter from Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit when the incident occurred.
Mr. Dwomoh described his son-in-law as a serial wife beater which forced his daughter to move out of the house.
“Eunice moved out of the house because she could no longer take the beatings so this man decided to make life a living hell for her. He will even come to our house and beat her. He follows my daughter everywhere she goes and beat her until he finally killed her that faithful day.”
Residents in the area apprehend the suspect and subjected him to severe beating when he tried to escape after committing the heinous crime.
The deceased’s father added that but for the timely interventions of the police, the suspect would have been lynched. He appealed to the Ghana Police Service to ensure the suspect faces the full harshness of the law.
In the meantime, a 56-year-old former boxer, Moses Olapade, was said to have sent his wife, Tinuke, into a coma at their residence in Oke-Aro Community, Akure, Ondo State, following an argument over a television remote.
A source who does not want to be mentioned said Olopade returned home, from a journey that day and wanted to watch a programme on the television but his wife refused to give him the remote so he could tune in to his preferred channel.
An argument ensued and an infuriated Olopade, who is also a truck driver, reportedly rained punches on the woman and she fell down and became unconscious.
The source said it was the screaming of the children that attracted neighbours to the scene. They quickly rushed the victim to a nearby hospital, where she was resuscitated.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Funmilayo Odunlami, said she was yet to be briefed on the matter.
The PPRO stated,” I have called the DPO of the Area ( B Division Police Station), but he said the matter was not reported at the police station.”
