Nigerian Man In UK Beats Wife To Death
A 48-year-old United Kingdom-based Nigerian man, Olubunmi Abodunde, has beaten his wife, Taiwo, to death with their son’s skateboard.
Naija Latest Gist learnt that Abodunde had a history of jealousy and accused his wife of having affairs.
Taiwo worked as a care home assistant in Cambridge, but her husband, a civil engineer who had trained, could not find work in his profession and took shifts at Tesco and Wickes.
According to Daily Mail, the suspect had been investigated by police several times over alleged domestic violence incidents before his wife’s death.
The couple, who had three children, arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022 and constantly clashed over alleged affairs and arguments about bills.
According to the aforementioned news platform, Abodunde had been repeatedly investigated by Suffolk Police about domestic violence and was due to go on trial for murder but changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday after a jury had been sworn in.
However, Judge Martyn Levett, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, warned him the only possible sentence was life imprisonment.
Suffolk Constabulary has referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which confirmed three officers were under investigation.
An IOPC spokesman said, “We advised two Suffolk officers that they are under investigation for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour at the level of gross misconduct.
“We advised another officer that they are under investigation at the level of misconduct.”
A post-mortem examination later showed the deceased had been throttled until she fell unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were broken before her husband used the skateboard to finish her off. The blows were so violent that the skateboard was damaged.
After his arrest for the murder, Abodunde was taken to hospital “because he appeared to have some sort of mental episode.”
He later claimed in a police statement that he had acted in self-defence, saying, “My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years.”
Nneka Akudolu KC, defending, said the level of violence was ‘completely out of character’ for her client and might have been affected by medication he was taking. But she said no medical evidence would be provided to support this claim.
Detective Inspector Dan Connick, of Suffolk Police, said after the hearing, “This was an awful attack on a woman that has had a lasting impact on the community and, most importantly, on the victim’s family.”
Abodunde was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 9.
