A husband accused of being responsible for the death of his wife, Mr. Magnus Ilechukwu, had denied that domestic violence has anything to do with the circumstances leading to the death of Mrs Trinitas Chiamaka Ilechukwu.
Rather, he averred that complications arising from liposuction surgery led to his wife’s untimely passing.
Recall that in the second week of June 2023, the social media was awash with the news of the death of the late Mrs. Ilechukwu, whose death was alleged to be as a result of domestic violence, meted out to her by her ‘monstrous’ husband, Mr Ilechukwu.
Various reports had it then that they had only girls, and the husband allegedly discovered that she was pregnant again with another girl, he therefore beat her up; while others said that she did a ‘Brazilian butt lift,’ BBL, came back and the husband beat her up and dumped her at the hospital to die and he disappeared.
The husband was immediately arraigned in the ‘court of social media,’ where he was speedily tried and found guilty as charged, without being allowed to defend himself. Of course, why should he speak, cases of women meeting their death at the hands of their husband, who should love them, has continued to grow. So, this story must be made to be true.
However, South-East tracked Ilechukwu, the Chief Executive Officer of Ledgeons LLC, to his location in Enugu, where he shed light on the unfortunate death of his wife.
A visibly-traumatized Ilechukwu told our correspondent that he had silently followed up with the Police investigations and only waited this long before speaking because he needed to have full disclosure of what killed his wife and also arm himself with verifiable and evidence-based facts, so that, like in the words of the scriptures, the reader can buy the truth and sell it not – Prov. 23:23.
He informed that his biggest shock was not being given a chance to tell his story before the death sentence was pronounced on his head on various social media platforms.
He added that to make matters worse, few people who knew the truth and who had tried to speak up were shouted down and silenced. Some were even called names and to avoid such name-calling, they bowed out.
He said that immediately his wife died, he had wasted no time in petitioning the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, because he had cause to suspect that there was more to the death of his late wife than meets the eye.
Asked why petition the police, was it because he suspected foul play or the culprit playing victim, Ilechukwu explained the chain of events leading to his wife’s death, adding that his wife had told him that she wanted to visit her parents at Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, with their two daughters to spend the weekend and he had agreed.
Her continued, “Without any hint, but in full agreement with the mother and her siblings, she kept the children with them and went for a liposuction surgery at Re-Align Aesthetic Clinic, GRA, Enugu on May 25, 2023 or so. The children were with her mother and siblings for days at their family house while she was at Re-Align.
“She did this without my consent and only returned on May 30, 2023, with the kids in the company of her niece to help her, knowing fully well what she did.”
Observing how weak she looked after her return, Ilechukwu explained that he asked if all was alright with her. “She lied to me by telling me she did DL (or DR) push up. I had no reason to doubt her. She was complaining of abdominal pain and fever. When I asked her to be taken to the hospital, she refused and insisted she wanted to finish the medication she already had.
“On Friday 2nd June 2023, when the abdominal pain and fever showed no sign of abating, I insisted on taking her to the hospital, it was at the point that she agreed.”
The grieving Ilechukwu said that when he wanted to take her to Niger Foundation Specialist Hospital, where they normally would go, she asked that she be taken to Re-Align Aesthetic Clinic, GRA, Enugu.
He continued, “Her wish was respected and she was taken there and on arrival, she was examined and admitted. I did not know the reason behind her choice of that clinic, except being lied to that it was where the DL push-up was done.”
“Unknown to me, my late wife had told the management of the clinic not to disclose the truth about the procedure she had undergone there, so, they kept to the agreement and their medical oath. She was going through treatment and on 6th June 2023, the hospital ran some tests and ultrasound which revealed some collection of fluid in her lower abdomen had an infection. The medical report made available to the police during the investigation also corroborated that.
“The clinic carried out aspiration of some of the fluid on the 7th of June 2023. When it became clear that they had reached the zenith of their ability in managing her, they referred us to the same Niger Foundation Hospital, I had wanted to take her to the first time. Probably, she might have been alive today. But before then she had become disoriented and had a catheter fixed to let out urine.
“Before letting us go on that 7th of June 2023, the clinic handed me a bill that I had to settle before we could be allowed to go to Niger Foundation Hospital. Even though when we got to Re-Align Aesthetic Clinic, GRA, I told the hospital management that the patient was my wife, unfortunately, the clinic was still playing to the agreement it had with her not to disclose the procedure she underwent there.”
Ilechukwu further told South East Punch that it was the Chief Surgeon at Niger Foundation Hospital who first told him that his wife had undergone liposuction surgery.
“The doctor probably thought I was aware and just asked what date she did ‘liposuction’ surgery at Re-Align. Though shocked to hear that my wife had undergone liposuction surgery, I did not mind, I was still up and doing to see that she was saved.
“I was by her side all through. I shuttled between the hospitals and the house to take care of her and attend to our kids. I was at the Niger Foundation Hospital with her elder sister when she gave up the ghost on the night of June 8, 2023. So at what point did I abandon her in the hospital?” Ilechukwu queried and broke down in tears.
He, however, noted that three of his wife’s elder sisters, the mother, the niece, and the eldest brother, were around, helped, and witnessed all that happened, adding, “The morning following the night in which she died, I with my family members, friends, and my wife’s eldest brother went to deposit her remains at the morgue.”
He averred that on the night his wife gave up the ghost, “I was in agony, especially for not knowing exactly what had happened to her. How could she have hidden such a thing from me? How could Re-Align Aesthetic Clinic, conceal the fact that it carried out a liposuction surgery on her, even when she was brought there and spent six days from June 2 to 7, and still billed me to pay for treatment I knew nothing about? Could it be that her elder sister, who was in the same car with me when I drove us to Niger Foundation Hospital on referral knew about the surgery and concealed it from me?
“How come it was at Niger Foundation Hospital that I got to hear for the first time about liposuction? It was while turning her around on the hospital bed at the Niger Foundation Hospital that I counted up to six small incisions on her body, maybe there were more, I wasn’t sure.”
He said that he petitioned the Commissioner of Police over her death because after her demise he went back to the clinic to get information on what it truly did and how it went at their facility, but the facility was not prepared to give out information.
“Some said it was because we had only girls, some said I discovered she was pregnant with another girl, others said she did BBL, came back and I beat her to a pulp and dumped her at the hospital to die and disappeared. Some had already condemned me to death without facts other than ‘they said this..,’ ‘they said that…’
“Thank God for the grace of records which helped the authorities to get to the root of these allegations.”
A report from the Re-Align Aesthetic Clinic to the police, which our correspondent obtained stated clearly, “The deceased had undergone a thorough medical check-up to certify her fit and healthy before the Liposuction Surgery.”
The date the deceased was admitted to the clinic for liposuction and the date she was discharged correlated with the date the deceased was presumably at her family house at Trans-Ekulu with her children.
Ilechukwu enthused, “The documents they signed to enable the liposuction surgery to be conducted at the Re-Align Clinic, showed that Ifeoma stood in as a witness, the deceased friend stood in as the ‘next of kin’ and she signed her consent form herself.
“If they are willing to reveal it there should be a record of the people who visited my wife at the clinic and were with her while she was admitted for liposuction surgery, and even when she was brought back due to the complications.
“The date I brought her back to the clinic, on her instruction, because of the intense abdominal pain and the fever she experienced. The results of the tests that were conducted. Other material pieces of evidence and several other documents show that my late wife had been on admission from the 2nd of June until the 8th of June, the day she gave up the ghost.”
He, however, stated that there is also a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death issued by Niger Foundation Specialist Hospital, Enugu, and a medical report of what health condition the deceased was treated for which led to her death, adding, “And none of these reports had anything to do with domestic violence.”
At the State Criminal Investigation Department, Enugu, he revealed that the siblings of his late wife resisted the demand to conduct an autopsy to ascertain the exact cause of her death, adding, “If indeed she was pregnant, as claimed in so many reports, does it not call for an autopsy? Should such death be allowed to go away without an autopsy? But surprisingly the siblings of the deceased resisted autopsy and did everything possible to make sure it wasn’t done.”
He noted that his insistence on an autopsy and the resistance of the same from the siblings of her late wife dragged the investigation of the State Criminal Investigation Division, Enugu, which also is delaying the burial until an agreement is reached.
He added, “An autopsy would have shown: if she was beaten to death or died as a result of beating or domestic violence of any sort; if she was pregnant as alleged in some quarters; if she indeed underwent liposuction surgery; if the cause of her death was related to the liposuction surgery; if the cause of her death is the same as stated in the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death issued by the Niger Foundation Specialist Hospital, Enugu.”
A senior police officer who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said that from the investigation conducted by D4 Homicide, State Criminal Investigation Division, Enugu, nothing suggested that the late Trinitas died as a result of domestic violence.
He told South East Punch, “There is no evidence found to establish any of the several allegations levelled against the husband of the deceased. We suspect that those allegations were maliciously cooked up by interested parties in an attempt to castigate and destroy the innocent man.”
But reacting to the matter in a chat with our correspondent, the elder brother of the deceased, Mr Anthony Okafor, lamented the treatment Mr Ilechukwu has subjected his family to.
Okafor explained that his family never accused Ilechukwu of killing the wife when he rushed to the police with a petition inviting his family to the police to make statement.
Okafor said, “It took Ilechukwu and his family 10 weeks to come and inform our family officially about the death of his wife. It was the Commissioner of Police who told him to come and inform us.
“Since the death of my sister he (Ilechukwu) has denied us access to our sister’s children.”
Although he insisted that Ilechukwu beats his late sister, his wife often, however, they are not pressing any charges against him. “We are surprised with the kind of attitude he has been putting up suffering his family. He has fixed burial of his wife twice and postponed it in less than 48 hours without any substantial reason. He first fixed the burial for September 29, 2023. We held candle light for her on September 26 only on September 28 he said he was no longer ready for the burial. Again he fixed October 13 and on October 11 came and told my elder brother that the burial cannot hold. This time reason he gave was the issue of autopsy. That autopsy must be conducted on my sister.
“Why we didn’t agree with the autopsy is because; one it is against our tradition. Secondly, it will not bring our sister back to life and thirdly, autopsy cannot detect bruises or domestic violence.”
Okafor, however, stated that in the two times he fixed the burial, they printed posters and invited friends for the burial, adding, “We paid for people who cook foods. Some our sister’s friends came back from US, UK and Canada to bid her farewell. It is unfortunate, we have spent money running around to ensure that our sister is buried so that she will have rest, but her husband is making it difficult. For now we are only waiting for him.”
