“She beats me mercilessly,” Suspect who murdered his wife during a fight over money in Bayelsa, claims self-defense.

The Bayelsa State Police Command has arrested a 56-year-old man, Christopher Chiabata, who killed his wife during a fight over money at Onuebum community in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the suspect struck his 41-year-old wife with a pestle during a fight. After she died in the hospital he tried to commit suicide by taking a poisonous substance. However, neighbours resuscitated and handed him over to Police.

While being paraded at the police headquarters on Tuesday, March 9, Chiabata claims that he killed his wife in self-defense. According to Chiabata, he has been married to his wife for 30 years with five children but they have been fighting frequently because she cheats him out of the money they jointly generated from their farming business.

“Whenever I take our produce to the market, she does not give me an account of the sales. For two years she refused to give me an account of the money we have realized 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 packed my things out of the house. That day we fought again and neighbours separated and settled us.

“Fed up by 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 is stronger than me so each time we fight she would beat me mercilessly. So this 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 Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) where she died,” he said