Man stabs pregnant wife to death, set home on fire to save himself from becoming voodoo sacrifice
Man stabs pregnant wife to death, set home on fire to save himself from becoming voodoo sacrifice
A Norwich man accused of stabbing his pregnant wife to death before setting their home on fire has told police he committed the crime to save himself from becoming a voodoo sacrifice.
Police say Patrick Antoine, 39, arrived at the police station in Norwich, Connecticut, at 10.49am Thursday morning, covered in blood and admitting to the murder of his wife, Margarette Mady, 37.
He claimed Mady, who was eight months pregnant when she died, had been casting spells on him for years and had threatened to sacrifice him ahead of the child’s birth in July, necn.com reported.
According to police, Antoine and Mady had been arguing in the kitchen of their apartment at 283-285 Franklin Street on the morning of the murder.
When Mady left the room, cops say, Antoine slipped a steak knife into his pocket.
They then continued arguing until she started shoving him, at which point he stabbed her repeatedly in the head, face and feet.
Antoine then used a bic lighter to set fire to the curtains in the room and headed to the police station to turn himself in – arriving just as fire crews were dispatched – court reports say.
‘My wife is dead,’ Antoine allegedly told officers at the station. ‘I killed my wife.’
He then claimed that his wife was a voodoo priestess who had been casting spells on him for years, and that she had threatened to sacrifice him before the birth of her child in July.
He also said that he was not the father of her child.
Mady was found unresponsive and badly burned, and was pronounced dead on the scene at 11.10am.
She was pregnant with a girl – her third child. The other two children were not in the house at the time of the incident.
Her cousin, who is also a neighbor and called the fire brigade after she smelled burning coming from the apartment, said she wasn’t aware of any problems between the couple, the Hartford Courant reported Friday.
Both Antoine and Mady worked at Foxwoods Resort Casino and had attended a Jehova’s Witness meeting shortly before her death.
Antoine has been charged with first-degree murder and arson, and his bail has been set at $2million. Under Connecticut state law he cannot be charged with the death of the fetus.
