Residents of Fegge, Onitsha, Anambra state demand explanations to the mysterious death of a woman, Mrs Calista Ojinnaka found hanging on a lose rope tied to ceiling fan inside their apartment at No. 2, Uzodinma street in the area.
The husband to the deceased, Mr. John Ojinnaka had told sympathisers, who thronged his house that he was shocked to find his wife dangling on a rope when he returned from shopping that fateful Sunday, July 26 morning. He blamed her alleged suicide on a spiritual problem.
“I woke up this morning in our two-room apartment, where I was with my wife and both of us discussed on how to buy things to eat. Already, my wife has some spiritual issues for some time now.
“So, I went to buy the things we would eat, and on coming back, the same morning, I went straight to the room and discovered the lifeless body of my wife hanging on a ceiling fan inside our room,” he claimed.
However, some concerned residents suspect foul play in her death, arguing that the mother of three children could not have possibly hanged herself on a low rope.
“It is not true that the woman committed suicide. Her husband should tell the world how she was murdered, because, if you looked at the corpse from the rope that was tied from her neck to the ceiling fan, you found that the rope was loose, not tight”, argued a neighbour, who spoke under anonymity.
The source further argued that the way the deceased was almost kneeling down on her knees gave away the suicide claim by her husband.
“The corpse was also supposed to be dangling in the air, and the stool kicked away with her legs, if she had committed the suicide and her tongue conspicuously seen outside from her mouth,” he added.
Another resident, who identified herself as Mrs Ochonga, agreed that there was more to Mrs Ojinnaka’s death than what the husband was telling the world.
She argued: “This is a clear case of murder; the husband must be held responsible for the murder until proved otherwise, since elements of suicide could not be established when you look at the corpse.
“She was just murdered and they tied rope to her neck and connected it to the ceiling fan. They could not be able to lift the corpse to dangle to assist them cover up their crime”.
A co-tenant also dismissed claims by the husband on the circumstances that culminated to his wife’s death.
“The husband is funny to claim that he went to the street to buy what the family would eat that Sunday morning, and on return just few minutes later he saw the corpse of his wife hanging on the ceiling fan and not dangling”.
Also a youth leader in the area, who pleaded anonymity, posited that, “there is the possibility that if the wife is spiritually tormented as the man claimed, the wife has become a problem, and as such, needed to be dealt with as her case has unsettled the man and family and no hope of rest of mind.”
“The claim by the husband that occasionally she is being spiritually tormented is unverifiable because, we have not, for one day, seen her behaving abnormally,” he said.
It was gathered that following suspicion that Ojinnaka was economical with the truth over the death of his wife, he reportedly fled to the Fegge Police station, where he lodged an official complaint and was subsequently detained.
Police operatives led by the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO 1) later visited the scene and took the corpse to Toronto hospital mortuary, Upper Iweka axis, where it was deposited.
