Claim: A viral video of a man hitting a woman with a pressing iron is alleged to be the scene of Osinachi’s enduring domestic violence by her husband.
Video of a man hitting a woman with a pressing iron that is alleged to be a scene of Osinachi’s enduring domestic violence by her husband is FALSE. The video has existed since 2020 and has been featured alongside different narratives. As such, this claim is false.
Full Text
Social media went agog with different narratives when late Nigerian gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, was announced dead at an Abuja hospital. Osinachi, who was the lead singer at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, was initially said to have died from cancer of the throat. However, floods of information and testimonials from social media and some of her close family relatives later alleged the singer was killed by her husband on account of domestic violence which late Osinachi has long been enduring for some time.
Fueled by this trend, a video of a man hitting a certain woman with a pressing iron surfaced on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. The footage depicts an apparently irate man hitting a woman with what appears to be a pressing iron. The helpless woman, who is heard screaming in the presence of crying children, is further chased by the man to another room, bringing the 11 seconds video to an abrupt end.
The man is alleged to be Osinachi’s husband domestically abusing her and the caption also suggests the footage was covered by her son.
“Video of Osinachi’s husband beating her, recorded by their son. How can a man being an animal be beating his wife this way, your woman mother of your children, how can this idiot deny that he didn’t have a hand in killing his wife Osinachi. Mr Peter Nwachukwu,” the attached caption points out.
In one WhatsApp group where the video was shared, some users shared their disappointment with Osinachi’s husband, tagging him a “demon” and an “iron man” for beating her with pressing iron.
“This man is a demon. How can you beat your wife with a pressing stone? No wonder she couldn’t survive it. May her soul rest in peace,” one user wrote.
Since the passing of the gospel singer, multiple narratives have been flying around with no factual basis. While this is usual with trending events, some people can capitalise on it to propagate unfounded reality that may sometimes stir up fear or even rage in the society.
Verification
When DUBAWA ran an analysis of the alleged footage on InVid Video verifier, results show the footage exists since 2020 with a different narrative that has nothing to do with the late gospel singer.
In fact, DUBAWA traced the earliest appearance of the video to a Twitter user, David (@Davidnart) who shared the footage on June 21st, 2020 with the caption:
“This is extremely wicked by this man. I hope he gets locked up for life. Wicked bastard.”
Not just that, another Twitter user, z̲̣̥μ̥β̣̣̥γ (@zubykelz) on June 31st, 2020 also shared the footage with the narrative that the woman in the video has accused the man of rape and not domestic violence.
“Seems Nigerians are confusing Domestic/Physical abuse (Domestic Violence) with Emotional/Sexual Abuse (Rape). For clarity… this video is a case of Domestic violence which she didnt accuse him of… she accused him of Rape. She hasn’t told us any incident of the Rape (s) though,” the caption says.
The same video was also published in a report by Pulse.ng on June 23, 2020 with the headline:
“Viral video of man hitting wife’s head with electric iron in front of kids sickens social media users.”
The report details how the “unknown” man in the footage is beating up a woman with a pressing iron.
Evidently, none of the places the video was featured in 2020 mentioned the late popular gospel singer or her husband as the persons in the footage.
Conclusion
The alleged video exists since 2020 and has been featured with different narratives that neither mention Osinachi nor her husband. As such, this claim is false.
