Forty-nine-year old Jafaru Sogei, who allegedly killed Rose, his wife of 26 years, last Friday, may be “mentally unstable”, the police said yesterday.
Acting spokesman of Lagos Command Chukwuma Ozoani, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said there was possibility that the suspect is mentally unstable because he can barely speak for now.
Ozoani said: “We are carrying out various tests on him. There is the possibility that he might be mentally unstable. He might have psychiatric problem. He is in police hospital; we are checking his mental health. It is an all inclusive thing. He cannot stand on his own nor speak what we understand.
“He only looks and murmurs and so we are going the extra mile to look at the issues and observe him.”
Sogei was said to have ingested a poisonous chemical after allegedly slashing his wife’s throat and was found vomiting in the bathroom at about 4am.
It was gathered that he attempted to set the body ablaze before his son, Richard, saw him and raised the alarm.
Richard found his mother’s body when he went into the room to tell her that his father may be sick.
Neighbours quickly held Sogei, who was subsequently arrested by policemen from Akinpelu division and transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) at Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.
The police rushed him to the hospital when his condition became critical.
The police initially thought the suspect was on drugs, but later discovered that he might have ingested poison as his health was deteriorating.
“He was rushed to the hospital and has been there since then. There is a possibility he is mentally unstable. Our psychiatric doctors are checking him. He is not in a good state at all. He took poison. He is not well so we are treating him at the police hospital.
“You cannot investigate someone who is at the point of death. But once he recovers, we would begin investigation into the case,” said a source.
It was gathered that Abiodun Odude, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the SCIID spent several hours in the hospital on Saturday and yesterday.
Before the incident, it was learnt that Sogei had been warning his wife to stop collecting gifts from her relatives for the family’s upkeep.
The suspect, who is said to be jobless, had reportedly assaulted his wife and mother of his five children on some occasions for alleged infidelity.
According to Richard, who spoke with reporters last Friday, the suspect started acting strangely after allegedly killing his wife.
He said: “My three siblings, our aunt and I slept in the living room, while dad and mum were inside. Around 4am, dad called me from the bathroom. I went to meet him but he did not say anything. I went outside to urinate and when I came back, I checked the bathroom and saw him lying down, vomiting some black substance and excreting on his body. I think he poisoned himself. I told my aunt to wake mum up to attend to him. But she didn’t wake up. I shone a flashlight on her and saw blood on the bed with a wide cut in her neck. I fainted when we discovered she was dead.
“We later asked dad how it happened, he said somebody entered and did it whereas the compound gate is always locked in the night.
“It was mum that took care of us. She was the one sponsoring my elder brother, Collins, who just gained admission into a university in Abia State. I don’t know our fate now.
“The landlord of our former house on Michael Street sent us out because dad always quarrelled with mum. We were also sent away from Banjoko Street for the same reason.”