A husband has been jailed
for 17 years after he killed his wife by stabbing her at least 15 times then
running her over with his car because he thought she was having an affair with
a neighbour.
Akua Agyeman, the
32-year-old mother of two died two months after the brutal stabbing, which was
witnessed by her five-year-old daughter.
Her husband, Minta Adiddo, a
Sainsbury's worker from Enfield, North London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter
and was today given a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years.
The court heard he suspected
his wife was having an affair with their neighbour Oladapo Etti-Williams in
October 2012. Mr Etti-Williams denied it, but said they exchanged three to four
'sometimes flirtatious' texts a day - and phone records showed they had
sometimes sent as many as 80 messages in one day.
On November 5, Adiddo
stabbed his wife with a large kitchen knife in their bedroom while their
one-year-old daughter slept in a cot next to them. Ms Agyeman managed to escape
through the living room window, waking neighbours with her screams.
But her husband chased her
down and stabbed her again in the street as she lay on the ground, leaving her
with 15 separate stab wounds.
When he realised she still
wasn't dead he got in his car and tried to run her over, almost ploughing into
shocked witnesses who were tending to her.
Adiddo fled the scene but
was arrested after police spotted him driving his car shortly the next day
still wearing his blood-stained shirt. In a phone call to a relative, he
admitted stabbing his wife and said he planned to kill himself before police
caught up with him.
When Ms Agyeman was in the
Royal London Hospital, Adiddo sent her a Christmas card ascribing his behaviour
to 'Satan' and 'devils'. 'I know the devil used Williams to destroy our
family,' he wrote. 'Please, please,
please, I need forgiveness from you - open yourself to God.'
The court heard her two
daughters are now being cared for by relatives but the family are 'forever
saddened' she won't get to see them grow up.
Sentencing, judge Brian
Barker QC said: ‘I accept this was not a
planned killing but was done out of frustration and temper, and in my view was
cowardly and selfish.’
“This
was a shocking waste of a vibrant life and loss of a mother which will be long
felt. I was moved by the words of her family who described Akua as a loving
sister, caring for her children and extended family in Ghana, and providing
financially for them.”
stupid man
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