How Wicked Housekeeper Killed His Employer’s Mother

An Ikeja High Court has heard how a housekeeper, Christian Yavine, slit the throat of Mrs Mariam Abiola, 79, his employer’s mother.

Yavine, who is from Republic of Benin, was 18 when the incident happened in 2014.

Led in evidence by the prosecutor, Akin George, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Inspector Godgift Moses, told Justice Toyin Ipaye that on July 3, 2014, he and Adetunji Fisayo Assistant Superseding of Police (ASP), visited the crime scene.

The IPO whose evidence was translated to French by an interpreter for Yavine’s sake, said there was a lot of blood on the mattress and the pillow in the room where Mrs. Abiola was murdered.

He said: “Our investigation team proceeded to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja to inspect the remains of the deceased.

“On close observation, we found that there was a deep cut across the throat of the deceased and she had several minor cuts on her neck which shows a sign of a struggle”.

Asked how he became the IPO of the case, he said: “I am a police Inspector attached to the Homicide Division of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

“I met the defendant on July 2, 2014 at 4pm while I was on duty at the SCID, I received the original case file and the exhibits were handed over to me.

“The defendant spoke Yoruba language but I did not understand, so I asked a colleague, Sergeant Adeola Lawal, to translate the language to English for me.

“On July 7, 2014, we served the pathologist, Prof John Obafunwa, with the coroners form and an autopsy was conducted by Obafunwa’s office to find out the primary cause of death.”

The prosecutor showed Moses two long kitchen knives, a black rope and a long pestle allegedly used in committing the crime.

The IPO identified them and they were marked and admitted as exhibits by Justice Ipaye.

Yavine was said to have committed the offence on July 1, 2014 at Block 74, Flat 2, Ijaiye Low Cost Housing Estate at Pen Cinema, Agege, Lagos.

He allegedly stabbed Abiola repeatedly in the throat with a kitchen knife.

The incident happened after late Abiola’s daughter, Mrs Joke Akinsemoyin, left home for a vigil.

Trial continues tomorrow.