Danish National Remanded over Death of Nigerian Wife, Daughter

A 53-year-old Peter Nielsen, who allegedly killed his wife, Zainab, and her three-year-old daughter, Petra, was yesterday remanded in Ikoyi Prisons on the orders of a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

The Magistrate, Mrs K.B. Ayeye, who gave the ruling, said the accused should be kept behind bars pending advice from the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Nielsen, a Danish citizen, is being tried on a two-count charge bordering on murder.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.

But the prosecutor, Effiong Asuquo, according the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN), told the court that the accused committed the offences on April 5 at his residence at Block 4, Flat 17, Bella Vista Tower, Banana Island, Ikoyi.

He alleged that the accused killed his wife, Zainab, 37, and her daughter, Petra, in the house.

“The accused who was always at loggerheads with his wife had hit her head on the wall several times leading to her death; he also proceeded to poison his daughter.

“He had dragged their lifeless bodies under the gas to create the impression that they suffocated to death as a result of a gas leakage,” he said.

The offences contravened Sections 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which prescribes death sentence for offenders.