Why I poured hot water on my husband, woman tells police

A mother of four, Joy Akachi, has been arrested for allegedly pouring hot water on her husband at the Ijesha area of Lagos State. The husband, Ibe Akachi, is battling for survival in a private hospital in Lagos.

Joy, who was paraded yesterday by the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, told journalists that she did it on self-defence. She said: “Akachi is really not my husband because he has not paid my bride price. Although I have four children for him, but in my tradition he is not yet my husband probably that was why he was beating me at any slightest provocation. He is not a caring husband, as he was not providing food for his family so I over work myself trying to provide for my children. 

“On the fateful day, I left home very early to Yaba where I sell used clothes. I couldn’t get enough market so I delayed to get reasonable quantity of materials for sale. I returned home late but not too late. I came back at about 9:00p.m. and my lover dragged me inside the house and started punching me with blows and supporting it with slaps.I was crying for help but he locked the door behind us so no one could come to assist me. He beat me till dawn and I was sick. 

“The following day, he woke me up and said I should prepare food for the children, but I told him I was tired and feeling pains. He left me and started boiling water with a boiling ring, probably to bathe the kids. I don’t know what came over him again and he started saying that he would kill me. He started punching me again. When I was becoming too weak, I feared that if I did not resist him, he may kill me, so I poured the hot water on him in self-defence and that was when he left me. 

“After the incident, I started regretting my action because he is the father of my children. I went to the hospital to visit him, but his family chased me away. My family sent emissary to him, but his family rejected our apology. I regret what I did, but he was the cause of the problems. My family had advised me to quit the marriage as he was always beating me, but I wouldn’t listen. If I had left the marriage, I wouldn’t have been in this mess,” she said.

Her husband, Akachi, earlier told the police that his wife had been coming home late and when he reprimanded her, she started abusing him and poured hot water on him, which nearly killed him.Edgal said the suspect allegedly emptied a half bucket of very hot water on her husband, thereby scalding his body badly.

Meanwhile, the decoy team of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) has arrested seven barons for importing eight physically challenged children into Lagos for begging on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja. The seven suspects along with six of their beggars were arrested on Monday at Mobolaji-Bank Anthony way, Ikeja after almost a week of monitoring.

Amongst the barons arrested were: Sanni Isiaku, 40; Abubakar Gahu, 50; Abdullahi Mohammed, 45; Nasiru Yusman, 21; Mato Abdullahi, 20; Nura Idris, 17; and Sagiru Ibrahim, 26. The physically challenged children found in their possession are: Aminu Kabiru, 12; Yusuph Nasiru, 9; Amina Kabir, 12; and Ayuba Idris, 12.

According to Mato Abdullahi, “I borrowed Amina Kabir from her mother who happened to be my sister. I bring her early in the morning to ‘Under bridge’ to beg. She begged while I wait around. At the end of the day, we make between N3,000 and N4,000. Depending on what we made, I remove my own and I hand over the remaining to the lady.” The case has been handed over to the Gender Department of the Lagos State Police Command.