“My Sister Told me Her Husband Had a Child Outside Wedlock” Late Ronke’s Sister Reveals

The only surviving sister to the late Ronke Shonde who was allegedly beaten to death by her husband, Lekan Shonde at their Egbeda home, has just released a report reacting to the allegations levelled against her sister by her killer husband, claiming he had another child with another woman outside wedlock.

In a new chat with Punch, Bolatito Bewaji, who spoke at the family house on Ogunsiji Close, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, said that Lekan Shonde allegedly murdered his wife due to jealousy and insecurity. She said that their marriage began to experience ups and downs when Ronke discovered that he had a child outside wedlock.

She further stated that her sister had endured a long period of domestic abuse. Sometime last year December, she almost packed out of his house but stayed back because of her children and the intervention of a pastor on the street and the Shonde’s landlady, who begged on Lekan’s behalf.

Bolatito, however, stated that her enduring sister would not have died if she had listened when she and their mother begged her to leave the house after several cases of abuse.

Bolatito said: ”The first case of abuse which I can remember happened sometime in 2012. The most recent was in December 2015, when we were still mourning the death of my brother. My mother was in the house with them when he started to verbally assault her. It was getting heated and my mum had to immediately leave the house. My mum called me and I went to a police station closest to the house. The policemen there said I could not report the case since I was not the victim.”

”My mother said I must make sure she packed her belongings. I started begging her to follow me, and she stood up and went ahead of me. But as I stepped out, I discovered that she had gone back. When I returned to their house, I found her in bed.

”I called her and said, ‘my sister, do you want to die? We don’t want to lose you. We just lost our second born. I know you are a loving person and you care about your family, but you have to quit this marriage.’ At this point, she (Ronke) started crying,” she further stated.

She said after that time, their mother insisted she signed an undertaking at a police station that whatever happened to her, the family would not be involved.

On the allegation that Ronke was cheating on her husband, she said her sister never cheated, saying the relationship between Ronke and the manager in question was professional.

She also said Lekan did not buy her two cars as he claimed.

She said her sister’s latest problem started after a woman showed up in their home with a child. She explained that Lekan, who was caught unawares by the visit, started pleading for his wife’s forgiveness.

Bolatito said: ”My sister called me and said her husband had a child outside wedlock. She said somebody brought the child to the house and said her husband was the father. She was shattered by that news and from that time, she started keeping to herself.

”Lekan asked her to forgive him, saying it was the devil’s handiwork. He would kneel and beg in the kitchen and bathroom. He promised to do a DNA test to know if the child was truly his own, but he didn’t do it. He started sending people to beg her. But she decided to stop talking to him.”

Another family member, unnamed, said when Ronke refused to take any action on the child, her husband began to check her phones to see if she was dating another person in retaliation. He said aside from the general manager that the suspect mentioned, he had accused her of dating at least three other men in her office.

He said: ”He would pick her phone and would query her on numbers not in her contact, he would ask who it was and why he was calling. Before she got her job, whenever she was going for an interview, he would commission a motorcyclist to trail her and check if she actually went for the interview or not.

”If she told him she was going to see a friend, she would call that friend some minutes later and said he could not reach his wife on her mobile phone and would like to talk to her through the friend’s phone; just to check if she was there.

”At another time, he started waiting for her at the gate at night to see who would drop her at the gate.

”It got to a point that he sent friendship request to all her male friends on Facebook and got their contacts and started calling them and harassing them. The man is insecure and jealous.”

He said: ”Ronke was a loving person. The only thing that mattered to her was her family and her children. Even when things were bad, she would call her sister to borrow money to pay rent or pay the children’s school fees.”

Meanwhile, it was also gathered that the family were already making plans to bury the 36-year-old, as the police await the result of the autopsy.

The police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, said investigations were ongoing.

Photo credit: Punchng