A case of tragic history repeating itself was last week witnessed in Akure, the Ondo State capital when a 60-year-old woman, Mrs. Yemisi Ajayi, who lost her 20-year-old daughter, Fionna Oluwaseun Ajayi, in October, 2018, was also killed in similar manner, three years after the killing of her daughter.
Three years after the murder of Oluwaseun, her mother, Mrs. Ajayi, who had been heart-broken since the murder of her only child, was killed just few weeks after the third remembrance anniversary of the death of her only child, suffering the same fate in the hands of some killers who invaded her house in the night, stabbed her to death and left her in a pool of her blood. This was exactly the same way her daughter was killed three years earlier.
The 60-year-old Mrs Ajayi who vacated her home after her only child was murdered, returned home after almost a year and decided to adopt a young girl to keep her company, but surprisingly, she was found dead after multiple stabs by some suspected killers.
It was gathered that the assailants who entered through the roof took nothing from the house but killed the woman after stabbing her five times and covered her with heaps of her clothes which made it difficult for the young girl living with her to detect the incident on time.
The girl who later discovered the corpse raised the alarm but residents and neighbors of the deceased discovered that the assailants had left the scene a long time before the discovery.
A resident who identified herself as Olafimihan said, “The young girl living with the deceased narrated to people that when she woke up, she was looking for her mother so that they could pray together but unfortunately she didn’t see her.
“She went on searching for her until she found her lifeless body. The assailants had taken some cloths from the wardrobe of the deceased and used them to cover her body. When I got there today, I started crying; then I called some of our neighbours.”
A resident, however, said detectives from the state police command failed to see any correlation between the two killings while the residents, family and friends of the deceased suspect foul play in the semblance of the killing of the mother and daughter.
A family member told Nigerian Tribune that “we suspect foul play; there might be a hidden secret only open to the daughter and mother which made the assailants to be trailing them around before killing them. They were killed in the same situation, only that the daughter was raped before she was stabbed to death even when she was on her monthly period. We want the police to beam their searchlight on these two murder cases because we suspect foul play.”
A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the late mother of Oluwaseun resorted to fate after the suspect was freed for lack of evidence.
Though she felt disappointed and never stopped telling those who cared to listen to her that her daughter was killed by her boyfriend and she never knew she would suffer same fate.
Oluwaseun, a graduate of Biological Science at Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, was the only child of Mrs. Ajayi, and she was living with her mother, who apparently had divorced the father of the girl. The mother was devastated when she met the corpse of her only child in a pool of her blood, not knowing she would suffer same fate in no distant future. Police were invited. Mrs. Ajayi explained that her daughter had reported to her that the boyfriend had been demanding sex while her daughter declined. The mother said she was able to talk to the boy to be patient if he was really interested in her daughter. But said this had reportedly caused friction between them.
It was gathered that the bruises on Oluwaseun’s body suggested that she struggled with the assailants before she succumbed, as it was discovered that she was raped, severally stabbed with a kitchen knife. The knife with which she was stabbed, a blood-stained underwear and a menstrual pad were discovered under the mattress inside the room where her lifeless body was found by her mother while the whole room was scattered.
The young man, was arrested, quizzed and released after denying having a hand in the killing of the girl. He told the police that there was a short break in their relationship a few months because of some issues but later reunited before the incident. He added that he could not have killed her because they had no issues that would have led him to commit such dastardly act.
Despite this, he was dragged before a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Akure on October 22, 2018, on a two-count charge but he was later acquitted and freed from Olokuta Medium Prison in Akure where he was remanded.
Chief Magistrate B. Yakubu had earlier ordered the suspect to be remanded at Olokuta Medium Prison in Akure and adjourned the case to January 22, 2019 pending advice from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP). But the suspect was released in March, 2019, based on the recommendations of the DPP.
A family member who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, however, called on the police to marry the two incidents and unravel those behind the killing of the mother and daughter.
A relation of the deceased woman, who also spoke with our reporter on condition of anonymity, also said “We take solace in God. The mother and daughter should be allowed to rest. We leave everything in the hands of God. I don›t want to say anything further.”
While speaking on the incident, the state police spokesperson, Funmilayo Odunlami, said investigation has commenced into the matter, adding that the remains of the deceased have been deposited at the morgue.
“The corpse has already been deposited in a mortuary and the police are investigating to unravel the motive behind her killing and I can assure you that those behind the killings will be apprehended,” she said.
