by Anike Jacobs

A few weeks ago, precisely on the first of January, a 32 year old Lagosian, Kayode Osikoya, murdered his mum, Madam Olubode, a former street sweeper with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

According to the police, Kayode who had slept in the same room with her 60-year-old mother woke up with a start, suddenly ran berserk and reached for a nearby empty beer bottle and smashed it on her head.

He, however, came to his senses as he was confronted with the gory sight of his mum’s corpse lying stone dead.

The suspect now being held at the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta said he could not have deliberately carried out the unprovoked deadly attack on his mother.

Kayode, who claimed to have been undergoing treatment for mental illness at a Psychiatric Hospital in Ijebu-Ode for over four years, claimed he must have been hypnotized by certain evil forces to kill his mother. He said he had never had any problem or disagreement with his mother before the incident that claimed her life occurred.

Hear him: “It happened in the morning of January 2. I did not deliberately hit the bottle on my mother’s head. May God not allow one to fall victim of hypnotism. There was no disagreement or quarrel between us. She had been the one taking care of me in the past four years. We ate and lived together in the same room. My maternal grandfather built that house. Honestly, I don’t know how the incident occurred; I don’t know what pushed me into hitting the bottle on my mother’s head that morning.

“I was not drunk and I don’t even take alcohol and I don’t smoke Indian hemp. I was a spray painter, but I had to quit when I fell ill. I had some mental problem and it was my mum that was taking me to a hospital in Ijebu-Ode where they treat people with mental illness. The hospital is in the NTA area in Ijebu-Ode.

“It happened in the early morning. I cannot say this is what really happened, it’s like I was hypnotized. The broken bottle injured me and the family members had to tie my hands after they had taken me outside. My two brothers brought me to Eleweran Police Command Headquarters. My mum’s relations first took me to the police station immediately after the incident.

I’m not married and I have no children. I have been undergoing treatment for over four years now. After the incident occurred, I stayed inside the room with my mummy’s corpse. I did not feel anyhow and by daybreak, my mummy’s relation, Orlando Olubode, brought policemen from Odogbolu Police Station and three days after, I was transferred to Eleweran.”

How sad.

Sola