From Bola Ojuola, Akure
A grandmother identified simply as Iforiti hasallegedly set her middle-aged son, wife and two grandchildren ablaze in Akure , the Ondo state capital.
While the husband,wife and one of the two children have died from injuries sustained, Doctors are battling to see if they could save the other child who sustained serious injury.
The suspect, Iforiti, who lives with her son and his family at Aponmu, along Ondo-Akure road, was said to have allegedly set the house ablaze while the family was asleep, killing three of them including the son, Victor; wife Racheal and one of the grandchildren while the remaining child is in critical condition.
A neighbour and eyewitness, Korede Michael, who narrated the incident said “he saw the house on fire around 2:00am at the weekend and had to break the window to rescue everyone in the house.
Korede said “the woman, her son, Victor Oloro; wife, Rachael; and children, Toluwani and Blessing, were all in the house when the woman set it on fire. She got some dry palm fronds and the little petrol her son kept in a gallon (for generator), spread it around the house and then put fire to it.”
“I was the first person to notice the fire and jumped into the house before other members of the community joined me in rescuing them. We got a vehicle immediately to transport them to the government hospital in Akure
Korede explained further that when they got to Akure (UNIMED annex), the doctors and nurses rejected the patients, saying they cannot take care of them due to the degree of the burn and advised that we take them to the Federal Medical Center in Owo.
“Unfortunately, we lost the last grandchild, who was just two and a half years old, immediately we got to Owo.
“On Sunday, the son and his wife gave up the ghost while the only grandchild left is in a critical condition.”
The suspected woman, Iforiti, who was not in any way affected by the fire was said to have attempted suicide sometimes in 2022 by jumping into a well but was rescued by neighbours.
Korede said “the children could not send the woman out of the house when she started behaving strangely because it was built by her late husband”.
Iforiti who now stays alone in the burnt house confessed she burnt her son and his family because they were starving her.
Standard Times however gathered that the other children of the old woman have locked her up inside the house.
The Police are yet to make any arrest but the Aponmu residents are demanding justice for the slain family
