She was always afraid in her husband’s presence, Osinachi’s brother tells court

Led-in-evidence by Prosecution counsel Aderonke Imana, Madu also told the court of how Peter Nwachukwu allegedly abused Osinachi verbally and physically.

“So, Becky Enenche met Peter and begged him before he accepted. Then when she came down to Abuja, the first day Peter sent his son Ebube to go and get water for him with cup, when he went to get the water, as a child, the water from the cup dropped on the ground, Peter beat Ebube mercilessly, just because the boy made a very little mistake.

“When he was saying all those things, my mum kept quiet and didn’t respond back to him. The next day my sister was in the kitchen cooking, she called on me to come and assist her, I was in the kitchen helping her to cut onions, Peter then came to kitchen and asked what I was doing there. My sister said to him, please allow him he is helping me, he started insulting my sister, calling her names. That day he said to her ‘you know how I used to be to you,’ in my presence for the first time.

“Then the second day, he did the same thing, I was in the kitchen helping my sister. He told her that I have warned you several times not to allow this your useless brother inside my kitchen, then my sister said to him, there are so many things to do in the kitchen, he repeated the same words again, ‘you know how I used to be to you,’ in my presence for the second time.

“On the fourth day, I was with my mom in the room where she was, when I was going to the kitchen, I saw him he raised his hands up to hit on my sister Osinachi, then I said if you try it, my mom heard my voice and she called me, Peter started insulting me again. The next day, he chased me and my mom out from his house, I called Osinachi’s twin sister Amarachi, I told her what happened, she called one of her Delta woman friend, it was the woman that came and picked me and my mom.

“It was in that woman’s house that me and my mom stayed for one month until she completed her treatment before we both went back to Enugu. Then I came back to Abuja, I started my music stuff then when I go to church on Sunday, that is when me and my sister(Osinachi) normally see, and whenever she’s talking to me and notices the presence of Peter, she will be afraid, she will quickly leave and tell me later.

“Then the next day, my sister was in the hospital, he never wanted to tell me that my sister was in the hospital. My sister cried and begged him to send the address of the hospital so that I can come. When I came to the hospital, I saw my sister in severe pains, holding her chest, I saw a doctor that was with her there. Right there when the doctor finished attending to her, Peter was there too, I wanted to see the doctor, Peter blocked me and called the security to push me out.

“We waited for so long before we now came to the room in the hospital were they were, then my sister Osinachi was begging the twin sister that she should not be angry, Amarachi said okay that there’s no problem. After that, Peter brought out a lab result and gave it to Osinachi and said to her, you don’t have cancer, despite the pain and what Osinachi was passing through right there, she smiled.

“Peter went to the toilet to ease himself, Osinachi said to us that please we should go and check on the children, that she doesn’t want any torture from Peter again. That she knows what to do once she recovers from the sickness, she said to us in Igbo language that ‘you can’t kill the fly in the presence of the wound,’ she said it to us and said we should go and check on the children, that was around 10, 11 in the night, so we left.

“Then in the morning we went to the children’s school, we met the head teacher, we told him that we were sent by Osinachi to check on the children then he said okay. He opened the register where they write the parents name, he said to us that Osinachi’s name was cancelled in that record book, while Osinachi was still in the hospital alive. Then he saw Peter’s name, he called him and Peter told him not to allow us to see the children. Both the things Osinachi said we should buy, we left with all those things.

“Going back to the hospital, getting to the hospital gate, a call came into Amarachi’s phone, it was Osinachi that was calling. She was talking to the twin sister with heavy pain, Amarachi put the phone on loud speaker so that I can hear what Osinachi was saying because she wasn’t speaking that loud as a result of the pain in her chest.

“What I heard her saying was that we should not come back to the hospital, she was saying it with fear. Then the twin sister now told her no that we were already in the hospital. We then went to see her, my lord, we met Osinachi with so much fear, even at that she was still begging us to go that she doesn’t want Peter to meet us there. Amarachi said to Osinachi that we cannot leave you here in this kind of condition, despite Amarachi was supposed to leave to Enugu that very day, Amarachi was crying and never wanted to leave, Osinachi too was crying and she kept begging that she should go. They both hugged each other.

“On our way going, we met Peter downstairs, what he said to us was that who sent us to go and see the children in the school, Amarachi then responded that it was Osinachi that said we should check on the children. What Peter said right there that is Osinachi the mother of the children? He said it more than three times, before Amarachi now told him, this thing you want to do don’t do it that she’s begging him in the name of God not to separate both of them.

“When Peter was saying all those things and insulting Amarachi, I was very angry, then Amarachi now told me to leave him and let’s go. She said I should not listen to him because the time for her flight back to Enugu, there was not much time for her before we left the hospital.

“The next day when I came to the hospital, what I saw at the entrance door of the room, was that no visitors allowed. I asked one of the nurses there how it came about, she said I should asked Peter, then I opened the door where my sister was, when I came in Peter started shouting and insulting me. Osinachi was lying down on the bed with heavy pain, due to what Peter was doing she was just begging me, because that day, Peter was pushing me that I should go. When I looked at Osinachi shedding tears on that sick bed, I didn’t respond to Peter, I left.

“In the month of April 8 this year, I heard that my sister was dead through Pastor Desmond, a member of Dunamis Church. Then Peter called me in the evening, on Saturday I came to the house where they are staying, he sent some people, mummy Glory and brother Kingsley, he now called the doctor to allow us see the body of my sister.

“My lord before then Dr Jubril of the National Hospital Abuja, told me that when my sister died, that they wanted to move her body to the mortuary, Peter refused and said that he’s waiting for somebody that nobody should touch Osinachi. He said they waited for long, and finally the person came and that they stayed for more than one hour, that when the person left, two of them moved out together. Then Doctor Jubril came back and saw that my sister’s body was still lying on the bed and Peter didn’t come back to tell them they were through. That he just left like that. That he was the one that took her body to the mortuary.

“My sister Osinachi passed through a lot, Peter didn’t tell the doctor that he has been beating Osinachi, kicking and hitting her on the chest and he did not allow Osinachi to tell the doctor, because he’s always there with Osinachi. And he never wanted anybody to come close, even Osinachi’s friend.”

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, I.A Aliyu, Madu said, “If I had told anybody what Osinachi was passing through and Peter gets to find out, Peter will torture her seriously.”

After the witness was discharged from the witness box, Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme, fixed January 17, 18 and 19, 2023 for continuation of trial.