Millicent Amadikwa relives the gruesome murder of her three daughters allegedly by her husband who also dumped their bodies in a disused freezer. The distraught mother of four spoke with DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA who visited her at her sister’s place at Nkwubor, Nike in Enugu State.
MILLICENT Amadikwa is still finding it difficult to come to terms with the reality of losing her three daughters in one fell swoop. The mother of four had her three daughters hacked to death by no other person than her husband, 52-year-old Ifeanyi Amadikwa, at her residence in Emene, Enugu State where she lives with the Dubai returnee.
Millicent, a mother three girls and a boy, had come into her eight-year-old marriage with Amadikwa with her first daughter, Chidalum, who was only three years old, before they had three other children made up of a boy and two girls.
Tragedy, however, struck on January 4 when Millicent went to the market with her only son, leaving her three daughters behind with her husband and their father. Upon her return from the market in the evening of that day, she discovered that they were missing only for the three girls to be found dead inside a disused chest freezer in her house.
The deceased children include Amadikwa’s 11-year-old stepdaughter Chidalum, eight-year-old Amarachi and four-year-old Ebubechukwu.
The distraught woman, who spoke with our correspondent amid tears, said she felt strongly that her husband, who has since been arrested by the police, murdered the three girls just to get at her.
She said since her husband returned from Dubai, United Arab Emirates about two years ago, a week hardly passed without them quarreling.
She said: “My name is Millicent, an indigene of Ebonyi State who is married to Ifeanyi Amarikwa, a native of Amuzi in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. I sell fresh tomatoes at Umuchigbo, Emene in Enugu.
“I have been married to my husband for more than eight years now and I have three daughters and a son.
“On January 4, 2022, I went to the market with my only son, Akachukwu. Before going to the market, I told my first daughter, Chidalum, to wash her siblings’ clothes after they might have finished eating and she agreed and brought out the clothes.
“Their father was at home, so I left them in his care and went to the market. But when I returned in the evening, I noticed something unusual. I opened the gates and none of my children came out to welcome me.
“It was quite strange, because each time I returned home from the market or anywhere, once I opened the gates, the children would come to welcome me. But in this instance, nobody came out while their father sat in the veranda, mending his trousers.
“I asked him about the children but he said he didn’t know. I started going round the neighbourhood to look for them.
“I went to the places they were used to going and places they never entered before. But there was no sign of them. I started to panic while my husband was busy mending his trousers.
“When I returned, I asked him again about the children but he scolded me. By that time, he had finished mending his trousers and had worn them. He didn’t even pretend to join me in looking for the children.
“I asked him why he felt less concerned about the children’s whereabouts and was rather busy mending his clothes at that time, which was around 6 o’clock in the evening.
“He said he didn’t know where to look for them but I insisted that he knew their whereabouts. He then asked me if it was possible that he sold the children and I also told him that he was capable of selling them.
“I went inside to get the food Chidalu had prepared and sat at the veranda where my husband was also seated. I called my elder sister to inform her about the development, but she said since my husband was not worried about the kids’ whereabouts, he must know where they were.
“It was now getting late, and as I was about to start eating the food I had brought out, my husband got up from his seat and walked straight to the small deep freezer in the veranda and opened it. Then he said, ‘Come and see where the children you are looking for are playing.’
“I rushed to the spot and noticed that the children were squeezed inside the freezer with the eldest, 11-year-old Chidalu kept on top of the other two.
“He himself started bringing them out. I tried to see if I could do anything to revive them but they were dead already with some black liquid coming out from their mouths.
“It was then that I raised the alarm and neighbours started coming. I also called my elder sister to inform her that the children had been found dead. So, neighbours brought a vehicle that took the children to the hospital where they were confirmed dead.
“When we went to the hospital, the doctor noticed that the children’s body and that of my husband were reeking of chemical.
“The doctor asked him why it was so and my husband simply said he used the chemical to treat the water in the well. So, I suspect that it was that chemical that he gave the children.
