Delaware Woman [Temitope] Gets 4 Years For Husband's Murder
THE NEWS JOURNAL/DELAWARE ONLINE
TEMITOPE ADEBAMIRO
No one disputed the fact that Adeyinka Adebamiro's wife stabbed him to death in their Red Lion home, but two very different images of Adebamiro emerged at his wife Temitope's sentencing in a Delaware courtroom on Thursday.
Adebamiro's family called him a respected pharmacist trying to follow his Nigerian values by saving his deeply-troubled marriage for his two children. The evidence, however, pointed to something else.
Temitope's attorney provided Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli with evidence backing up Temitope's claims that he was abusive, even while she was pregnant, and was unfaithful, as shown by numerous videos found on his computers of himself having sex with prostitutes. The 37 year old also was being investigated by the federal government for selling $20,000 worth of pills per week illegally through his pharmacies in the Philadelphia area, her attorney said.
In the end, Rocanelli said little – but sent a clear message. She sentenced the 36-year-old mother to only four years in prison. This was the minimum in what could have been a 50-year prison sentence.
Temitope pleaded guilty to manslaughter and a weapons offense in September. She admitted to stabbing her husband in the couple's home in the 1300 block of Healy Court in April 2015.
She was able to plead to the lesser murder offense under a section of the code for extreme emotional distress.
New Castle County police were called to the couple's home about 12:40 a.m. and found Adeyinka unconscious with a stab wound near his neck.
The officers took the residents of the home, including Temitope, who was wearing blood-stained clothing, to the Cpl. Paul J. Sweeney Public Safety Building in Minquadale, according to court documents.
Police learned the two had been married for more than 10 years and had two children. Temitope told investigators her husband was physically abusive to her and had been cheating on her with various women, including her own sister and the nanny's daughter, court documents said.
On the night of the killing, Temitope told investigators her husband had sent her to Nigeria for several months, court records said. After returning in December, she had to stay in a hotel near the Philadelphia airport for four days because her husband refused to let her into their Red Lion home.
He then paid for her to fly back to Nigeria for a few more months, according to documents. About this time, she learned that her husband had spent Christmas with the nanny's daughter.
The husband later flew out to Nigeria and flew back with her to Philadelphia. As he showed her the cameras inside their home over his cellphone, Temitope saw the nanny's daughter inside the home, documents claim.
At one point, Temitope saw several texts and images on her husband's phone, which she took pictures of using her cellphone. Some of the pictures included images of her sister and the nanny's daughter.
Around 9 p.m. on the night of the killing, the couple had been talking and watching television on the couch when her husband discovered the photos she'd taken on her cellphone, according to court documents.
As he yelled at her, Temitope told police there was a power outage, the court documents said. Investigators checked with Delmarva Power, which indicated there was no power outage at the time, police said.
Temitope then told police that when the power returned, she found her husband in the first-floor bedroom lying in the bed. As she got closer to him, she saw a knife on the ground which she picked up and took to the kitchen, according to documents.
As she put it away, she noticed blood on the tip and that's when she realized he had been stabbed, the court documents said.
Temitope suggested to police that her husband stabbed himself and changed her story several times, according to court documents.
When police told Temitope that his death was not a suicide, the woman "began nodding her head in agreement," according to court documents. She was charged with first-degree murder and has been held at the Baylor Women's Correctional Institution ever since.
Police also found during a search of the home a photograph of Temitope's husband on top of the dresser in the master bedroom. The picture is of the victim holding a baby with an "X" across his face and a cut mark across his neck, according to court documents.
This story will be updated.
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