Christopher Chiabata, a 56-year-old man who killed his wife during a fight over money at Onuebum community in Bayelsa State, has claimed he acted in self-defence.
Chiabata, who was arrested by officers of the Bayelsa State Police Command, allegedly struck his 41-year-old wife with a pestle during a fight.
After reports got to him that his wife had died in the hospital, he tried to commit suicide by taking a pesticide known as Sniper. However, neighbours resuscitated and handed him over to police.
Speaking to journalists when he was paraded at the police headquarters on Tuesday, Chiabata said he killed his wife in self-defence.
He said though he had been married to his wife for 30 years with five children, they were always fighting because she cheated him out of some money they had jointly generated from their farm business.
“Whenever she took our farm produce to the market, she would not give me an account of the sales. For two years, she refused to give me an account of the money we had realised from the farm. So, one day, I called her to give me an account and when she refused, we started fighting until neighbours separated us.
“In anger, the next day I asked her to leave the farm business for me to handle alone. One day when I returned from the farm, she had moved my things out of the house. That day, we fought again and neighbours separated us.
“When I was fed up with the whole development, I asked her to pack out of the house the following day but she refused. Then we started fighting at that point. She was stronger than me so each time we fought, she would beat me mercilessly. So, that time as she was beating me, out of anger, I struck her with a pestle.
“It was at that point she collapsed. Neighbours helped rush her to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital where she died. When I heard she had died, I took Sniper in an attempt to kill myself but neighbours quickly came to my rescue and took me to the hospital.”
