A man who stabbed his wife to death in Lagos has told the police that he unleashed his fury on his wife when he became aware of her HIV positive status after she had infected him with the disease.
The suspect, Philip Katongu (pictured) gave this account at the Lagos State Police Command where he is being held for murder.
Katongu who is from Nasarawa State and works in a construction firm at Victoria Island, and Justina were living together as husband and wife at Oniru Estate, Maroko, Lagos.
The deceased(Justina) who was from Kaduna was Katongu’s second wife, and had no child for him.
According to the 45-year-old, his relationship with Justina which started in late 2010 ended in ignominy rather than fun.
His word: “I married Justina, my second wife in December 2010. I later learnt that she had given birth to two girls for a man. The girls died of AIDS.
“However, when we first met, she did not tell me all these. I explained to her that I have a wife with children and I wanted to marry her too. Before marriage, I told her we should go to hospital to conduct HIV test, but she refused and said that she was HIV negative. So we started sleeping together.”
He said unknown to him Justina had been attending a hospital in Abuja for medical treatment every three months for HIV, until March 2013 when she took him along. It was there she disclosed her HIV status to him.
He said, “I was angry and told the doctor who equally blamed her for not disclosing it to me. The doctor then tested me, and I was positive. We came back to Lagos and continued with the relationship because I loved her. But suddenly, she told me she wanted to pack out from my house that she was no longer interested in marrying me having had another person in Abuja. In fact, the man usually called her on phone while we were together.
“I told her that with her status, she should not go and be infecting people with the virus. And that I will kill her and kill myself. We started fighting and I stabbed her. It was in the early hours. I stabbed her three times with a knife. She shouted and people were knocking at our door.
“After she died, I stabbed myself, and the people broke the door open. I woke up to find myself in a hospital. I feel very bad that I killed my wife. I loved her very much.”
