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The pastor in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, who killed his wife and buried her corpse in a shallow grave inside the compound where they were living, has told the police why he did it.
The 49-year-old Chris Enoch, from Ebonyi State, is the general overseer of Omega Word Global Ministries in Ikot Ataku village, Okon, in Eket, while his slain wife, Patience, 40, was a petty trader who used to sell pastries in the local market.
They had five children together, the eldest is 15 years old.
Mr Enoch’s church has been operating inside the same rented compound where he and his family have been living together.
“The suspect, who had domestic differences with his wife, (and) accused her of being the source of his numerous woes in life and infidelity, confessed to have beaten her to death as a result of the unresolved differences on the 9th of June,” the police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom State, Odiko MacDon said in a statement on Thursday.
“In order to cover his tracks, he dug a shallow grave in his compound and buried her. The deceased’s corpse has been exhumed by the Police and deposited in the mortuary for autopsy,” he added.
The Commissioner of Police, Andrew Amiengheme has ordered the deputy commissioner of police in-charge of the SCIID to take over the investigation, and assured that the suspect would be charged to court after the investigation, Mr MacDon, a superintendent of police, said.
The statement said the police commissioner was “appalled” by the killing, and has appealed to spouses “to be amenable to tolerance and resolve domestic issues before they degenerate into violence”.
The commissioner warned that perpetrators of domestic violence and other crimes in the state would be made to face the law, except they desist from it.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported how the community became suspicious when the pastor’s children complained to neighbours that they had not seen their mother for days after she had a quarrel with their dad.
The youths of the community, led by their president, Effiong Johnson, who is also a ‘community police officer’, went to search the pastor’s compound and were shocked to discover the woman’s corpse buried in a shallow grave.
The pastor was handed over to the police by the community youths.
