A former member of the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC), Mathias Nweze, on Monday reported himself to the police station in the town of Umuida Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State for killing his wife.

In his report to the police, Mr Nweze claimed that while he was sleeping in his house at about 11 pm last Saturday, his generator went off twice, arousing the suspicion that robbers might have invaded his compound. He therefore brought out his pump action gun and fired several times at the direction of the generator.

He claimed that while trying to shoot whoever was out there in the compound, one of the bullets hit his wife, leaving her critically injured.

However, the neighbours of the Nwezes believed the suspect must have made up the story to the police to lessen the weight of his crime.

According to two neighbours, the suspect had given money to the late wife to cook some delicacy for him but he was angered when he found out that rather than cook what he wanted, he was served something else which they identified as ‘corn mill’.

An angry Mr Nweze had rushed into his room, picked his gun, stormed out, aimed the gun at the wife, and pulled the trigger, the neighbours claimed.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the incident, said the corpse of the deceased has been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy.

“We have commenced investigation into the incident that led to the shooting of a housewife by the husband,” he said.