26th August, 2021
By Jethro Ibileke
A 46-year-old man, Patrick Markson, has killed his wife with a sledgehammer, while she was sleeping.
He then committed suicide by taking the lethal poison called sniper.
The couple, who shared six kids, were said to be in the middle of a marital dispute.
The tragedy occurred Thursday morning, at Odede Street, in the Tombia Amassoma Road area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The 35-year-old wife, simply identified as Hannah, was from Okotiama community, in Gbarain Clan, Yenagoa, the state capital.
Elder sister to the slain Hannah, Mrs. Boufuru Timipre, narrated the tragic story.
“Yesterday we were frying garri, and the husband called me that he wanted to speak with my sister if we were together, and I told him that when I get to where she was I will pass the message.
“On reaching her, I told her and immediately we tried reaching him but we couldn’t. Later, he called again, but I have left where she was, so he told me to tell her to bring garri for home use.
“This morning, the son called me that the mum was seen dead and he wants me to come.
“As I was going to the house, I called him and ask of the dad and he told me the dad too was dead.
“When I got to their house, I went straight to the room, and I saw them both lying on the bed dead, but I noticed a can of sniper by the bed and a big hammer.”
She added that they had matrimonial issues but she has often spoken and settled both of them as husband and wife.
“The genesis of their problems was when my husband died and I had a contract which I engaged him to benefit from.
“After the contract, he got N800,000 for himself and never gave anything to the wife, she was bitter and reported the issue to me.
“I approached him and told him what he did was bad to have treated her like that, because I involved him due to the facts that he married my sister, but I didn’t suspect it will result to this,” she added.
The head of Aputu family, Chief Anthony Jacob, expressed shock at the development, describing it as a sad development.
The spokesman of the Bayelsa Police Command, Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the incident, said the corpses of the deceased couple have been evacuated to the mortuary.
The statement by Butswat:
Operatives of the Bayelsa State Police Command, have evacuated two corpses of a husband and wife at Odede Street, off Tombia- Amassoma road, Yenagoa.
Preliminary investigation reveals that one Patrick Markson ‘m’ 46 years, a native of Onopa, Yenagoa, attacked and killed his wife, Hannah Markson ‘f’ with a hammer. “Thereafter drank a poisonous substance suspected to be sniper which led to his death.
“Photograph of the scene were taken, the hammer and bottle of the sniper were recovered as exhibits. Investigation is ongoing”.