Nigerian Wife-killer Bags Life Imprisonment in UK

Olubunmi Abodunde murdered his wife Taiwo in their Newmarket home, London, last November, and has just got life imprisonment.

The Nigerian couple moved to the UK recently, and their domestic violence which had started in Ondo early on escalated.. 

The Ipswich Crown Court  heard they had been having incidents over money and bills, with some low-level violence.

At the height of it, the 48-year-old battered his wife with their son’s skateboard. The woman suffered ‘catastrophic brain injuries’ that killed her, according to Suffolk police in court.

But the convict said during trial he’d lost control, and killed her because of his medication.

The court noted the intensity of the attack that led to her death at their Exning Road residence.

Prosecutor Stephen Spence told the court Abodunde knew his wife’s shift pattern, and CCTV showed she’d arrived home at 09:12. Two officers investigating an earlier  distress call visited the couple’s  home while the violence went on behind a closed door.

“Only the defendant now knows what happened. The officers repeatedly knocked on the door and notified them of their presence but got no response or heard any calls for help,” Spence said.

But he said the officers heard between 40 and 50 “thuds” . They believed the sound came from Abodunde attacking his wife, a mother of three.

A senior police official later authorized the cops to enter the property at 09:45.

“When they entered the front door, they immediately found the lifeless body of Mrs Abodunde with her skull smashed in,” the prosecutor said.

Apart from the brain injuries, a post mortem further revealed more injuries consistent with stamping of her body. And strangling, too.

Defence counsel Akudolu said Abodunde “was a very well-respected man”  in the UK. And he got a street named for him  in Nigeria where he was once a councillor.

“Not a day will go by that [Abodunde] does not regret the misery that he has caused,” the counsel said.

Ruling, Judge Levett described Taiwo’s killing as “ruthless, violent, savage and heartless”.

He said Abodunde had lied to the officers that Taiwo attempted to attack him with a knife a day before.

Levett said there had been “no self-defence at all” on Abodunde’s part.  “And  no remorse other than sobs from the dock.”

Abodunde faces a minimum of 17 years in prison before he could stand a chance for parole.