In a dramatic twist, Mr. Lekan Shonde, who allegedly murdered his five months pregnant wife, Ronke, on Friday at their Egbeda residence in Lagos, yesterday surrendered himself to the police.
Shonde, 57, decided to surrender himself after some of his friends convinced him to do so. That, however, came after he had sent about 70 suicide threat text messages to his friends.
He shelved his plan and went to Ondo State, from where he was persuaded to return to Lagos and surrender. Shonde had over the weekend, sent about 70 text messages to a friend, Mr. Sunday Nwobi, indicating his intention to commit suicide.
Some of the test messages he sent on May 7 read: “I want to die, please help,” “I can’t face police or cell,” “You’re the only one advising me not to kill myself, I will respect you till I die,”
“I want to go to the Attorney General of Lagos State to surrender myself.” Nwobi said he and other friends were shocked over what happened to the family. According to Nwobi, the Shonde they knew was not a violent man.
He added: “Lekan (Shonde) has been seen on many occasions celebrating his love for his wife. One of which was the message he posted on his Facebook wall on February 15.”
But Shonde, according to his friends, alleged that Ronke was dating the general manager of a firm at Ikeja. Shonde was said to have called the general manager, lamenting that he had destroyed his family by dating his wife.
The man allegedly responded that he never knew that the woman was married. Another of Shonde’s friends said: “A brawl ensured between the couple last Thursday after Lekan discovered that his wife was answering and receiving calls from the man friend.
The wife later accepted that she was dating the man.” Shonde was said to have left for work early that fateful Friday morning after the brawl, unaware that his wife had died. Another friend, Mr. Gbenga Soloki, Director, Campaign Against Impunity and Domestic Violence, said: “When we got the information, we advised him to come out from hiding.
Even his father also told him to come out of hiding. We urged him to state his own side of the story.“As a friend, we knew him to be a non-violent man. We were shocked over what we read from some sections of the media; that Lekan killed his wife. Unfortunately, the wife is not here today to give her own account of what happened. We are expecting a pathological investigation.
The investigation will show if actually she was strangled or brutalised before she died. Even when the suspect ran away, the deceased’s mother, called him to say they had forgiven him.”
Shonde was handed over to detectives attached to the Homicide Section of State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba for further interrogation.
Owoseni said the case was still an ‘allegation’ until proven otherwise by the court. He said: “As you have said, he allegedly killed his wife. He is in our custody. We are not the court of law.
We will get to the root of the matter. Investigations have commenced and detectives are asking him questions.” The mother of two was allegedly strangled by her husband in the early hours of Friday. The woman was in her mid-30s.
According to neighbours, Shonde was in the habit of always hitting his wife. The couple were said to have fought through Thursday night to Friday morning before her body was discovered.
Immediately Shonde realised his wife was dead, he bolted, leaving their two kids with their mother’s body in their living room. Shonde was said to have locked the kids inside the apartment with the body, before taking off. The first kid is seven years old, while the second is four.
Residents were alerted that something was wrong when they heard the two kids, shouting and crying through the window that their mummy refused to wake up. Neighbours heard their cries and broke the door of the apartment.
They found Ronke’s body in the sitting room. According to the kids’ nanny, who was contacted and raced to the scene, Shonde called her around 5a.m., on that fateful day, telling her not to come to work. She said: “I ignored his order.
I was with madam on Thursday and she did not say anything to me. He must have planned it; this was why he asked me not to come to work on Friday. I have lost a good woman, a good boss, to domestic violence.”
