Grace Nnaji, who lived next door to the late gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, told a Federal Capital Territory High Court that the singer asked her several times not to tell anyone about her husband, Peter Nwachukwu abusing her.
Aderonke Imana, a lawyer for the prosecution, asked Nnaji to testify. She said she was a tailor and went on to tell the court that she met Osinachi when her husband asked her to make a dress for her.
The first time in 2014, when Peter Nwachukwu brought her to take measurements when they arrived at the house, he said, “Idiot, come out for your measurements,” she explained.
Nnaji said she was surprised that he had called his wife an idiot.
She also said that Osinachi had told her that the accused was always hitting her for no reason.
“Ekwueme, as I used to call her, came to my shop one day with injuries on her daughter’s head and she told me that the defendant pushed her and the child into the wall. The daughter had a fever at the same time and I was the one that gave Ekwueme money to buy drugs from the pharmacy to give her daughter.
“Another time she came and showed me injuries on her back and told me that Peter kicked her on her back with his leg and she slammed into the wall with her chest.
“One day, she ran to my house at about 5 am and said that the previous night she locked her door and he kicked it open with his leg and proceeded to hit her on her chest. She fell to the floor and remained there crying until she slept off,” Nnaji alleged.
She also said that when the defendant’s wife went to church, he would lock the door behind her and she would stand at the gate knocking for hours.
She said that sometimes neighbors have to talk to him about letting her in, and that on one of the times he wouldn’t let her in, she slept in her house for two days.
Nnaji also said that Nwachukwu once left his wife in church after a church vigil, and that while she was trying to find her way home, hoodlums attacked her and stole her phone and bag.
“When Ekwueme got home and told him about the incident, he said ‘You are lucky you were not killed as that will have been the best thing that could have happened to you,” Nnaji alleged.
She said that the defendant, Peter Nwachukwu, had told her that he would ruin Osinachi’s reputation and kill her brother if she told anyone about what had happened to her. Because of this, she was afraid to talk to anyone about what had happened to her.
Nnaji also said that the singer didn’t report the abuse when she told her to do so to the police, her family, her church, and a human rights radio station.
When the witness was asked what the defendant did for a living so that he could always be at home to beat his wife, she replied,
“I asked Ekwueme, she told me that her husband was her manager and that he does not have any other job.”
The defence counsel, I.A Aliyu who was slated to cross-examine the witness after the prosecution was through, craved the indulgence of the court to adjourn until Friday.
