Woman electrocuted in hotel room on her birthday

The family of Funke Balogun, 24, a National Diploma II student of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), said she was killed. But her boyfriend, Abolade Adetunji, and his family are claiming that she was

electrocuted.

Funke, a mother-of-one, was allegedly electrocuted on Sunday, in the bathroom of a hotel owned by Adetunji’s. The incident happened on 30, Balogun Street, Oshodi, Lagos, after she and Adetunji, lodged in the hotel that was commissioned last Thursday.

Her younger sister, Funmi, said Abolade came to pick her sister at their residence on Saturday around 11pm. She said: “Abolade was in a hurry that night and I told my sister not to go but she picked some of her things and left with him.

Around 8pm on Sunday, we went to the hotel, I sighted blood on the wall and when I asked Abolade’s brother, Bayo where my sister was, he said: ‘at the moment, Funke is dead’; he said it without remorse and was still icing drinks in the freezer.

Is that how my sister will die? She has been dating him for almost a year. He just returned from NYSC orientation camp. The boy is very proud to the extent that whenever he visited her, he didn’t greet anyone.”

Yesterday, from his hospital bed Adetinji however said: “Funke was in the bathroom and I went to meet my brother who was on the same floor with us to get toothpaste. As I returned to the room, I tried to open the toilet door but it was stiff. As I gained access to the toilet, I met her on the floor with a shower handle on her right hand. When I tried to carry her, I didn’t know what happened until I saw myself on hospital bed.”

Adetunji’s father said he has arrested the electrician that worked on the hotel’s wiring because last Friday, occupants of the building beside the hotel complained of shock in their house and he told the electrician but he refused to come until Funke’s death.

Some family members claimed that the late Funke’s skin was still fresh when they visited the mortuary, adding that there was no sign of electrocution except for her swollen right arm.