62-YEAR-OLD MAN DROWNS STEPDAUGHTER OVER WIFE'S DENIAL OF SEX

Pa Ayoola Oyesiji and the late Aishat

A 62-year-old retired lecturer, Pa Ayoola Oyesiji, has been arrested by policemen in Oyo State for drowning his two-year-old stepdaughter in a bucket of water and killing her in the process. The incident, which occurred at Atipe area of Ibadan in the evening of Friday, 16 Novemeber, was an aftermath of a quarrel between the man and his 22-year-old wife, Barakat Akeem, over sex.

The young woman, who is currently nursing a two-month-old baby for the retired lecturer, was said to have given birth to the deceased child before she married him in December 2011. On the fateful day, the man approached his wife for sex, and she refused, claiming that her baby was still young, in addition to the fact that she was in her menstruation.

Pa Oyesiji, who was said to have retired from the University of Ilorin in June, reportedly got infuriated and tried to pull his wife back into the room, but the woman fled. Her two-year-old daughter, Aishat Mohammed, was said to be sleeping in the room then with her two-month-old baby being tended by a neighbour.

The woman reportedly raised an alarm and pleaded with neighbours to help her bring her daughter, Aishat, out of the room where her husband had remained. However, their attempts to do so proved abortive as Pa Oyesiji refused to open the door, a development that resulted in the neighbours forcing it open. After a quick scan through the room, the little girl could not be located. This development got the mother and the neighbours agitated over what could have befallen her.

However, they were shocked when they later discovered the body of Aishat in a half-filled bucket of water in the unlit room.

As the news spread in the neighbourhood, an irate mob was said to have descended on the retired lecturer with different objects, beating him almost to the point of death, until he was rescued by a team of policemen from Agugu Division. Pa Oyesiji is said to be an habitual drunkard and was already drunk when he approached his wife for sex, another reason which reportedly made the young woman to have rebuffed his advances on the fateful day.

Though he admitted that he was drunk, Pa Oyesiji said he only wanted to prevent the girl from running about, by putting her in a bucket, adding that he did not know that the bucket contained water. When reminded that the baby was already asleep when he reportedly picked her from where she was, the man could not put up any further defence.

He was taken to a private hospital for treatment of the injuries he sustained in his eye during the mob action. Oyesiji, a holder of MBBS degree, also lectured at the University of Ibadan before transferring his services to the University of Ilorin in 1996. Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Mr. Clement Adoda, confirmed the story, saying that the remains of the girl had been deposited in a mortuary for autopsy.