‘How house-help killed my magistrate wife’

BY DAUD OLATUNJI ABEOKUTA — Chief Wole Timeyin, husband of the slain retired magistrate, Olufunmilayo, said yesterday that his wife’s killer had laid siege in their compound for 24 hours before he struck. The 70-year-old widower said: “Unknown to us, the boy hid in the gatehouse overnight before he struck the following day, having monitored our movement, knowing that my wife was the only person at home after I had gone out.” The 21-year-old house-help, identified as David, was reported to have slaughtered his former boss with matchet few weeks after he was sacked for stealing. Timeyin, a pharmacist, explained, “we never owed him any salary. Rather, we used to pamper him and make him comfortable. “We provided a conducive environment for him. As you can see, the room we allocated to him has all needed facilities.” While recalling what happened shortly before his wife was allegedly murdered, Timeyin said even after he was arrested for stealing, the family pleaded for his release so that he would not end up in jail. He said: “We counseled him several times, but we never knew he was a devil in human skin. Is it a wrong thing to have saved him from ending up in prisons?” The widower said he would continue to miss his spouse, lamenting that since the demise of his wife he was yet to come to terms with what befell him. He said: “My wife was a mother, and I am going to miss her. No day passes that I will not remember her. It is unfortunate that it has to be like this. “When I look around in our bedroom and can’t find her I feel worried.” He, however, used the opportunity to advise those who engage services of househelps to ensure that they know their background before employing them, stressing that the grown up house-helps are more dangerous. On his wife’s burial arrangement, he disclosed that the family will meet in the next few days.