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The funeral programme of Zainab and her daughter, Petra released by the family
By Anthony Maliki, Abuja
Five years after being brutally murdered by their Danish husband and father, Peter Nielsen, a mother and child are to be buried on Friday, May 12, 2023.
He was said to have killed his wife, Zainab, a singer, with a stage name Alizee, and his three-year-old daughter, Petra, in the early hours of April 5, 2018, at their residence at Banana Island in the Ikoyi area of Lagos.
He was said to have hit Zainab with an instrument and later strangulated his daughter.
After his arrest, the Lagos State Government arraigned him on June 13, 2018 on a two-count charge of murder, an offence contrary to section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2015.
He was sentenced to death by a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Belewa Square on May 20, 2022.
According to a funeral programme released by the family of Zainab and seen by Apex News Exclusive in Abuja, a Candle lighting/wake keep will hold on Thursday May 11, 2023, at Dolphin Estate High Rise Secretariat, South-West Ikoyi, Lagos from 4-7pm while final interment will take place on Friday, May 12, 2023 at Atan Cemetery, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos at 9am.
Already, the mother of Zainab, Mrs. Ruth Madaki, had been in Lagos from Abuja for over a week now making arrangements for the burial and the dad expected to join before the wake keep on Thursday.
Nielsen when he was facing trial
Zainab’s mother is from Kaduna State while the father is from Adamawa State. They reside at Mbuko in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
During the trail, Nielson, 54, pleaded not guilty upon arraignment but told the court while testifying that his wife and daughter died before a doctor arrived their home.
Nielsen told the court that he woke up at 2:30 am on April 5, 2018, and got snacks and drinks for his wife and daughter before going back to sleep.
The defendant said when he woke up at 7:30am and did not see his wife on their bed, he searched for her.
He told the court he saw his wife and daughter in their kitchen, where he said he perceived a strong smell of gas when he opened the door.
The defendant said he dragged his wife to the living room and asked one of the girls living with them to carry his daughter, adding that he then covered them with two blankets after he realised that they had died.
But delivering judgement on the matter on May 20, 2022, the presiding judge, Bolanle Okikiolu-Ighile, found the defendant guilty of the murder.
“I hereby pronounce that you Peter Nielsen shall be hanged by the neck until death. May God have mercy on you,” she said.
