FeaturesMama Roz’s Chronicles: The Sabbath Murder Prison Series (2)

Mama Roz’s Chronicles: The Sabbath Murder Prison Series (2)

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December 07, (THEWILL) – It took almost two years to complete the treatment and by that time, the job was no longer available. Her parents had moved to the village during that period and she was back living with her doting grandmother. That was when she met Nnamdi. It was love at first sight. Chioma was very slim, dark and pretty and Nnamdi fell in love with her instantly. His mother was not so keen on Chioma because she saw what she considered to be evidence of waywardness but Nnamdi was completely smitten and within a couple of months they were married. The year was 2003 and Chioma was 21 years old with no higher educational qualifications. She still nursed the idea of continuing her education abroad but as the children came almost immediately, she knew she would have to put it all on hold for a while. This didn’t matter too much though, since her husband was relatively comfortable and willing to take care of her.

Now with the interference of Nneka, the mother-in-law from hell, the marriage was crumbling and with it Chioma’s happiness. As they sat in the village in Mbaise discussing the constant battles with Nneka, both Grandma and Chioma’s mother agreed that it would be best if she left her husband’s house and came home to them. Her father was listening to their conversation from his room. He didn’t think it was a good idea for her to leave and he wasn’t as blind as his wife and mother-in-law to his daughter’s stubbornness and wayward behaviour. But he couldn’t take on both his wife and her mother so he kept his counsel. It was agreed that she would return to her husband’s village the next day, but only to pack up her things and then she would come back home to Mbaise with her children.

Chioma left her husband’s home the next day but he kept the children. Nneka was pleased to see her go. Feeling lost and embattled, she returned to Abuja to live with her brother. Some of her siblings had moved out of Abuja but her immediate elder brother still lived there and she moved in with him. It was a one room apartment so it was quite tight. They never got on as children and even as adults nothing had changed. They were like cat and dog, constantly fighting. They would fight over the smallest things like whose turn it was to wash the plates. He felt that she should do all the domestic chores because she was a woman but she strongly disagreed. Then sometimes when he came home late, she would ‘accidentally’ lock him out of the house and the next day they would fight about that. Several times, they got into physical combat until the neighbours came to separate them. Eventually Chioma decided that she would prefer to live alone and she moved out.

Chioma had joined another Sabbath church and she moved in with some of the Igbo members. One of the church members did not like her. He constantly picked on her and didn’t believe the dreams she claimed to have. He declared her prophecies fake and ran her down at every given opportunity. She didn’t like him either and she did not like his methods of ‘delivering’ people especially children. Her fears proved to be well founded when one day after a particularly rigorous deliverance exercise, a child died “in his hands”.

The church elders conducted an investigation in collaboration with the police and she was called in to give evidence because she was there when it happened. Some of the prophet’s friends advised her to be a little economical with the truth to save the prophet but she refused. She felt it would be wrong of her to cover up the death of an innocent child so she gave her testimony which led to the arrest and eventual conviction of the prophet. She had thought that with her main tormentor gone, she would now have peace but her problems had just begun.

The condemned prophet had several friends in the church and they were none too pleased with her. One day, two of them, a man and a woman came to the home she shared with the other church members and beat her up. They almost killed her and the incident caused quite a stir. The police were called in to arrest all of them for public disturbance and it took her several months to recover from the beating. Chioma was so angry and vowed to make them pay for what they did to her. After the incident she was forced to move out of that house and she even had to leave the church completely. She found new lodgings with a Sabbath landlord from another church who was very elderly. He lived in the room next to hers. He liked her very much and was very kind to her but her old nemesis followed her to these new lodgings.

Her nemesis was a man called David. He was the same man who came with the woman to beat Chioma up in her former home. By some ill-fated turn of events, he was a close friend of her new landlord and came to the compound almost every evening to visit him. On discovering that his enemy lived next door to his best friend who was also the landlord, he tried to get her evicted. When this did not work, he started tormenting her with snide comments as he sat outside talking with his friend in the evenings. Sometimes when he had been drinking and was somewhat inebriated, he would even threaten her.

Everything came to a head one fateful day. David had been out drinking with his friends at a beer parlour near the house. From the beer parlour he could see the entrance to Chioma’s house and was waiting for her to return. Shortly after she came in, he followed her into the compound and went into her room in his drunken state. At this point her story differs from his. According to Chioma he tried to have sex with her and she fought with him. She was told (no one knows who told her or when she was told) that he had a small container of acid which he planned to use on her so she took the acid from him and poured it all over him. He screamed and people gathered. There was no electricity that night so everywhere was dark which made it difficult to see the damage done. But from his screams and the reaction of the neighbours, it was clear to Chioma that she had gone too far this time. She didn’t hang around to find out the outcome, she ran away from the compound.

The next day she was arrested and taken to the police station at Life Camp and from there to the SARS office for interrogation. She was charged with attempted murder and after a few days the charge was changed to murder. David had died from the extensive injuries he suffered as a result of the attack. He was completely blind as the acid had been poured into his eyes.

However, he had given a statement before he died which was considered his last testament and tendered as evidence in court. He claimed that he and Chioma had been dating and that she had been very angry with him because she saw him with another woman. She entertained him in her room that night and he had been intimate with her. Afterwards she questioned him about the other woman and not satisfied with his responses, she took the acid from under the bed and poured it on him in a fit of rage.

Chioma says that she never really understood how dangerous acid was and was unaware that it could end David’s life. She thought it would simply leave a mark. She said she had always wanted to harm him because she hadn’t forgiven him for beating her up with the other woman. She strongly denies having a relationship with him though, and says she has no idea why he said that just before he died. She also regrets talking carelessly during her trial when she told the judge that if he came back to life, she would still kill him again. She believes that was why she got a harsh sentence and she did not deserve the sentence she got.

Chioma was devastated when she was sentenced to death by hanging. She had not expected it and that first day she nearly ran mad. She had always counselled people in church and now it was the counsel of others that prevented her from losing her mind.

David was 55 years old when he died and he had a wife and grown-up children. Chioma would love the opportunity to apologise to his wife and receive forgiveness, even though she had been unable to forgive him. If there is one thing, she would have liked to change in her life, it would be her anger. She regrets being consumed by anger and wishes “she could wear the cloak of humility”. She would really like to learn how to forgive and also be careful not to speak out of turn. She believes that by some miracle, she will be set free. She talks regularly to her mother who always advises her to keep praying. Her father is also still alive and both of them were in the court when judgement was given. Sadly, her beloved grandma has now passed on.

Chioma advises mothers to check the spiritual destiny of their children unlike her mother who simply did not believe in such things. She says things could have been worse for her if not for her strong spiritual powers which she employed to avert some of the danger that could have befallen her. She still strongly believes in the white garment church and is certain that her salvation will eventually come from there even though her association with the church has brought her untold trials.

Chioma is quite confident that when she appeals, she will be released. When she gets out, she will return to her work in the Sabbath church and as a born ‘Levite’ she will help people by seeing visIons and prophesying for them. Through their tithes, she will travel to the countries she has always dreamed of visiting like Israel, Japan, France, South Korea, Sweden, St Kitts and Nevis. Chioma is currently on death row.

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