How Nigerian who relocated to UK in 2022 ‘beat wife to death with skateboard’

Olubunmi Abodunde reportedly beat Taiwo, his wife, to death with their son’s skateboard as police waited outside the apartment for permission from superiors.

Daily Mail reports that the incident occurred on November 28, 2023, at their Exning Road home in Suffolk county, UK.

On the night of the incident, officers heard a number of bangs inside the house Abodunde had gone into, even though bail conditions imposed the day before had banned him from the property after another violent episode.

According to the newspaper, when police finally entered the apartment some 25 minutes later, they found Taiwo, 41, on the floor with her “skull smashed in”.

“A post-mortem examination later showed she had been throttled until she fell unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were broken, before her husband used the skateboard to finish her off. The blows were so violent that the skateboard was damaged,” the report reads.

Abodunde was to go on trial for murder but changed his plea to guilty after a jury was sworn in on April 24.

Stephen Spence, counsel for the prosecution, said Abodunde had a history of jealousy and suspicion and often accused his wife of extra-marital affairs.

The police investigated Abodunde, 48, a number of times for alleged domestic violence before his wife’s death. On April 27, 2023, police arrived at the couple’s home in Newmarket, Suffolk, and found Taiwo with a split lip.

The couple have three children and arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022.

Taiwo worked as a care home assistant in Cambridge. Her husband trained as a civil engineer but was unable to get a job in his profession. He took shifts at Tesco, a supermarket; and Wickes, a home improvement retailer and garden centre.

After his arrest for the murder of his wife, Abodunde was taken to hospital “because he appeared to have some sort of mental episode”.

He later told police in a statement that he had acted in self-defence.

“My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years,” he said.

“On November 28, we got into an argument. She ran at me with a knife, I grabbed the knife and cut my hand. I was defending myself.”

However, police told the court that while Abodunde sustained an injury on his hand, there was no knife near his wife’s body.

Martyn Levett, a judge at the Ipswich Crown Court, has warned the Nigerian that the only possible sentence was life imprisonment.

Abodunde has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 9.