Ondo State Police have arrested a 27-year-old man, Quozeem Awe, after allegedly killing a nursing mother and injuring her husband and child during a dispute over house rent in Ore, headquarters of Odigbo LGA.
It was gathered that the woman, identified as Deborah Adeleye, was attacked around 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at the Ore Alaba neighborhood, while her husband, Mathew Adeleye, and their daughter sustained injuries during the assault.
Eyewitnesses said the attack was as a result of a disagreement over rent. The landlord’s son allegedly stormed the tenants’ apartment armed with a knife and cutlass, escalating tensions that had reportedly been building for weeks.
Narrating their ordeal from his hospital bed, Mathew Adeleye said he and the other tenants had received a quit notice, although their rent was not due until March 16. He explained that the family had already secured a new apartment and were preparing to move on the day of the attack.
According to Adeleye, the violence began when another tenant opened the apartment door, allowing Quozeem to enter. “He rushed into the room where my wife was lying and attacked her. She died instantly,” Adeleye recounted. He added that he was stabbed multiple times while trying to intervene, and their eldest child, Tunrayo Adeleye, sustained a wound while fleeing.
Neighbors and residents rushed the victims to a nearby hospital. The tenant who opened the door reportedly fled, but Quozeem Awe later surrendered himself at a nearby police station.
Police confirmed that the deceased’s body had been deposited at a morgue in Ore, while investigations into the incident are ongoing.
