Woman Kills Husband

A woman has been arrested by the police after she allegedly poured salt-laced boiling water on her husband at Accra Newtown, leading to his death a few days later.

A picture of him before his death at the hospital showed a large part of his body with severe burns.

The incident, which has shocked residents of the neighbourhood where the incident occurred, has triggered gossips about what really happened given that the couple had been in matrimony for the past fifteen years, albeit with intermittent quarrels.

For many, the plight of the four kids now being cared for by family members is what is worrying as the father has passed on and their mother is now being detained by the police.

Mallam Zuberu, the deceased, was a teacher of an Islamic school, Adabiya Islamic School, and also an Imam of the Alawiye Mosque at the Akotex segment of Accra New Town, in the vicinity of the local timber market.

The relationship between the couple is said to have been rough, with the lady seeking divorce but her husband was not ready to grant, neighbors told DAILY GUIDE.

On a fateful day, he was said to have gone to the mosque to carry out his routine assignment of leading the faithful in prayer as the Imam of the Alawiye Mosque nearby.

A neighbor, who asked for anonymity, told DAILY GUIDE that “there had been a quarrel between the couple before he went to the mosque.”

When he got to the threshold of his house after his morning prayer, he told somebody that he was scared to enter the house.

He eventually did, and as he lay on his bed, unknown to him, his wife, whose name was simply given as Abiba had boiled water, to which she added salt, and proceeded to undertake her mission.

She splashed the boiling water on him and he screamed in pain. As he turned his body, she reportedly splashed the remaining hot water on him.

The deceased’s stepmother, who lives in the same house, was said to have heard the scream and proceeded to question the suspect about what had happened.

The deceased was said to have been protective of his wife and was fond of telling family members who queried the wife over her mistreatment of her husband to leave his wife alone.

Following the burns, he reportedly hired a taxi and proceeded to the Mamobi General Hospital for medical attention.

Given the seriousness of the burns, the facility referred him to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), formerly Ridge Hospital.

Another version of the story has it that he returned from the GARH to the house, but collapsed in front of the abode.

Word soon spread about what had happened and when the woman was confronted, she reportedly said he was lucky to have survived. She said this when her husband had been rushed to the hospital and was being cared for.

He could not survive the burns which covered a large part of his body. He was buried Wednesday after funeral prayers were said for him near his house.

The suspect is being held at the Kotobabi Police Station as the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) investigates the case.

It was when she later heard about the death of her husband that the enormity of her action dawned upon her, a family member who took food to her at the police cells narrated.