Danish remanded for ‘murder of Nigerian singer wife, daughter’

A Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos yesterday remanded a Danish citizen, Peter Nielsen, suspected of killing his wife, Zainab Nielsen, and their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Petra.

Chief Magistrate Kikelomo Ayeye remanded Nielsen, 53, in Ikoyi Prison, following an application by the police.

Nielsen was docked on a two-count charge of unlawful killing.

The charge, marked B/87/2018, was read to the defendant in English.

It reads: “That you Peter Nielsen, male, on April 5 at Block 4, Flat 17, Bella Vista Tower, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, did unlawfully kill your wife, one Zainab Nielsen, 37. That you Peter Nielsen on April 5 did unlawfully kill your daughter, Petra Nielsen, aged three- and-a-half years”

According to prosecuting counsel, Effiong Asuquo, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), the offences were punishable under Section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

Asuquo tendered a three-page application, containing 15 grounds for the Nielsen’s remand.

He said: “There is overwhelming forensic evidence linking the defendant to the assault and murder of his wife and daughter. Investigation has also shown that the defendant was habitually violent to his late wife, Zainab.”

According to Asuquo, a fight broke out between the couple in their flat at about 3am.

Nielsen was allegedly seen fighting and hitting her head on a wall by his wife’s two relations, Mimi, 11, and Faith, 13 who lived with them, following which she died.

The prosecutor alleged that Nielsen then poisoned Petra before dragging her body into the kitchen.

Asuquo said: “He took the lifeless little girl and put her under the mother’s body and then put on gas stove burners in the kitchen so that it will be believed that the wife and daughter were suffocated to death by the cooking gas.

“The offences which the defendant has committed are capital offences and thus the defendant needs to be remanded in prison custody pending legal advice by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and proper arraignment and trial before the High Court. It is in the national interest that the suspect remains in prison custody pending legal advice and his arraignment and trial.”

Chief Magistrate Ayeye upheld his prayer.

She remanded Nielsen and adjourned till May 8, for the DPP’s advice.

Last year, Zainab, alias Alizee, signed a two-year record deal with an Asian record label, Petra Entertainment.

The deal reportedly earned the Kogi State native a new Ford explorer SUV, a house on Banana Island and international distribution with affiliates of her record company in Asia.

In January, she released a single, ‘Alhaji Musa’.

Nielsen’s counsel, Frank Udoka Amah, told The Nation afterwards that Nielsen “is also a victim in this matter. He has lost a wife and daughter. We are trying to find out exactly what happened and we are cooperating with the Nigeria police in their investigation. We believe that they will look at every angle. It is the job of the police to look at all the angles, to look at the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. There are a lot of CCTV cameras in Bella Vista where this incident happened. It is their job to look at them and we have every reason to say that what the CCTV cameras are saying is consistent with what our client said.”

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