My wife infected me with HIV – Killer husband

Katongu, stiches of the self-inflicted injury
| credits: Olaleye Aluko

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a man, Phillip Katongu, for allegedly stabbing his wife to death.

Katongu, who hails from Wamba, Nasarawa State, was apprehended by operatives of the Department of Criminal Investigations, Yaba, Lagos.

The police said the victim, Justina, was stabbed to death in a street at Oniru Estate, Maroko, Lagos, where she and her husband were living.

Our correspondent learnt that Justina was stabbed in about three places before she died. Also, the knife used for the murder had been recovered by the police.

Justina, who hailed from Kauro, Kaduna State, did not have any child for the suspect before her death.

It was also learnt that Katongu, who worked as a construction worker on the Victoria Island, had a wife outside the marriage in Nasarawa State before marrying the deceased.

However, after having allegedly killing the wife, Katongu was said to have also attempted to commit suicide before the neighbours forced the door open and rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was revived.

Forty-five-year-old Katongu, told policemen that he killed his wife because she infected him with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, among other misdeeds.

He said, “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.”

Katongu added that without his knowledge, his wife had been going to Abuja for medical treatment every three months for HIV, until March 2013 when she took him along.

He said it was at the hospital that 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.”