Grace Nnaji, a neighbour of the late gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, has said that the singer begged her severally not to report her husband Peter Nwachukwu’s abuse.
Nnaji, who is a tailor, stated this on Thursday during her testimony before an FCT Court in Abuja.
She told the court that she met Osinachi when her husband approached her to make a dress for her.
Nnaji, while giving her testimony led by the prosecution counsel, Aderonke Imana said that she became close to the deceased because her Abuja shop and residence were close to the Nwachukwu’s house.
“The first time in 2014, when Nwachukwu brought her for her measurement when they got to the house, he said ‘Idiot, come out for your measurements,’” she said.
Nnaji said that she was shocked that it was his wife he referred to as an idiot.
She added that the deceased confided in her that the defendant was always hitting her at the slightest provocation.
“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 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 further said that the defendant was in the habit of locking his wife out whenever she went to church and she would be at the gate knocking for hours.
She said that at times it will take the intervention of neighbours before she would be allowed in and that she slept in her house for two days on one of the occasions he refused to allow her into the house.
Nnaji also testified that on one occasion Nwachukwu left his wife in church after a vigil in church and while she was trying to find her way home, she was attacked by hoodlums who took 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.
Nnaji equally said that the defendant threatened that he was going to destroy the deceased’s reputation and kill her brother and that was the reason she was afraid to tell anyone about her ordeal.
Nnaji also said that when told the singer to report the abuse to the police, her family, church and also a human rights radio, she refused.
