Husband killing: I’ll accept your verdict on my daughter, mother tells court

The mother of a defendant charged by the police for allegedly killing her husband by setting him ablaze, has told the court she would accept whatever the court decides as the fate of her daughter.

The defendant, Amina Dauda, was arraigned before an FCT High Court in Maitama on May 22, 2013, on a count charge bordering on culpable homicide punishable with death.

The prosecutor, Anthony Egwu, had told the court that Amina, poured petrol on her husband, Mohammed Matazo, and set him ablaze on Feb. 7, 2013, at their residence at Daki Biyu, Abuja. He said the offence violated Section 221 of the Penal Code.

At the resumed hearing, yesterday, Amina’s mother, Talatu Ibrahim, while testifying as a defence witness said she was in Kaduna when she was informed that her daughter had a quarrel with her husband.

“I came to Abuja and went to their house. I saw a stove near a generator and a burnt carpet where she cooked. I also saw my daughter and her husband, with burn injuries.

“I went to the hospital and saw them. I saw where my daughter got burnt and where her husband got burnt too.”

Under cross-examination by the prosecution counsel, Hadi Barkun, the witness said though Amina was her daughter, she was under oath to tell the truth.

She said she was not trying to defend her daughter, adding that “whatever the court is going to decide is okay by me.”

“What I told the court was what I saw,” adding that though she was not a medical doctor, “but I saw that the deceased and my daughter got burnt.”

Asked how she was able to differentiate between a burnt and an ordinary wound, Ibrahim stated that, “burn is physical. I saw fire burns because it was physical.”

She, however, disagreed with the submission of the prosecutor that the late Matazo died as a result of the burn.

“I didn’t agree that he died as a result of the burn. I am not a medical doctor, but I saw the burns, I am not speculating.

“If it was really true he got burnt injury, he would have died immediately,” she said.

The defendant counsel, Charles Yoila, informed the court that the defence was closing it case.

Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf adjourned the matter until Dec. 17 for adoption of final written addresses.