UK Based Nigerian Man Given Life Sentence For Beating His Wife To Death (Photos)

A jealous husband who beat his wife to death with their son’s skateboard in a ‘ruthless and cold-blooded’ attack has been jailed for a least 17 years.

Olubunmi Abodunde wielded the toy with such force on his wife Taiwo that a pathologist was unable to establish how many blows she had sustained.

However, police officers — who stood outside for 35 minutes while waiting for permission from superiors to enter — described hearing nearly 50 ‘bangs’ coming from inside the property.

When they finally entered, Mrs Abodunde, 41, was found with her ‘skull smashed in’.

Jailing the defendant for life with a minimum 17 years behind bars, Judge Martyn Levett told him he was ‘ferocious, ruthless, cold-blooded, callous and savage’.

Abodunde had said very little about what happened and gave ‘no comment’ responses during a police interview.

But the judge added: ‘The simple fact is that you strangled your wife and then beat her to death and used one of the children’s skateboards to batter her skull.’

Abodunde was jealous and suspicious throughout his marriage and accused his wife of having affairs.

Police had been involved with the couple several times over alleged domestic violence incidents before mother-of-three Mrs Abodunde’s death on November 28 last year.

The day before, Abodunde was arrested after officers arrived at the couple’s home in Newmarket, Suffolk, and found his wife with a split lip.

He was freed on police bail later the same day with a condition to stay away from the marital home and not to approach his wife.

But he went home the following morning after working a night shift at Tesco, claiming he wanted his mobile phone.

Two police officers arrived at 9.20am to take a statement about the previous day’s incident but didn’t enter the property until 9.55am – despite the commotion inside – after permission was granted. They immediately confirmed she was ‘obviously dead’.

A post-mortem examination found she had been throttled until she fell unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were broken.

Her husband used the skateboard to finish off the care home worker with blows that were so violent it was damaged in the process.

Prosecutor Simon Spence KC told a previous hearing, where the defendant admitted murder after a jury had been sworn in, that the banging the police officers heard was likely to have been Abodunde continuing the attack after his wife was unconscious or dead.

The family arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022 but clashed over money issues as well as the alleged affairs.

Abodunde was a trained civil engineer but had been unable to find work in the sector since relocating here and took shifts at supermarkets and DIY stores.

Following his arrest for murder, he told police he had acted in self-defence, saying: ‘My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years.

‘On November 28, we got into an argument. She ran at me with a knife. I grabbed the knife and cut my hand. I was defending myself.’

But Ipswich Crown Court heard while he did have an injury to his hand, there wasn’t a knife near his wife’s body.

Nneka Akudolu KC, defending, said the level of violence was ‘completely out of character’ for her client and might have been affected by medication he was taking. However, no medical evidence was provided to support the claim.

Three Suffolk Constabulary officers are under investigation for misconduct after the force referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct. Two face action for potential gross misconduct.

Speaking after Abodunde’s conviction, Detective Inspector Dan Connick said: ‘This was an awful attack on a woman that has had a lasting impact on the community and, most importantly, on the victim’s family.’

Source:- dailymailUK