Man charged with stabbing wife, son, grandson

By Matthew Harris and Andrew Staub (TIMES SHAMROCK WRITERS)
Published: June 21, 2010

SUGARLOAF - Wielding a makeshift spear, a 66-year-old Wilkes-Barre man killed his 62-year-old wife, stabbed his son and wounded his young grandson late Saturday night after arguing about Father's Day plans, police said Sunday morning.

Harun Ngolo, 28 Simpson St., stabbed his wife, Maria Jeringa Ngolo, several times with a knife attached to a long wooden pole about 11 p.m. Saturday after she said she wanted to visit a casino today, police said.

Police responding to the incident also found 3-year-old Noah Cobin with cuts on his legs, and Harun Ngola's 28-year-old son, Moses Ngolo, sprawled on the floor with stab wounds to the stomach and chest, police said. Both were hospitalized.

Ngolo faces charges of homicide and aggravated and simple assault.

"Again, this is another case of domestic violence turned deadly," Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said during a morning news conference. "We've said it before in these cases that this does not have to happen, that there is help available for people. It's important that they try to get out of the situation, and the person who perpetuates these crimes can get help."

The dispute began late Saturday night, when Harun and Maria Ngolo began arguing in their second-floor bedroom, police said. Earlier in the night, Harun Ngolo had brought a "garden tool" from the basement to the bedroom for protection, a tool authorities say he later used to strike his wife, son and grandson during the argument, police said.

While he was watching a movie with his son in a third-floor room, Moses Ngolo told police he heard his parents arguing - a disagreement that climaxed with Maria Ngolo screaming, "Moses, help. He's killing the baby, he's killing me," according to court documents. Grabbing a metal bar from a music stand in his room, Moses Ngolo kicked in his parents' door and entered the dark room only to be stabbed by his father when he tried to grab the toddler, police said.

After running downstairs to call 911, Moses Ngolo returned to his parents' bedroom and found his mother on her knees and his father swinging his weapon at her, police said. A fleeing Moses Ngolo later collapsed in the front door downstairs, where police later found him, according to court documents.

Responding police officers kicked in the bedroom door and found a blood-stained Harun Ngolo standing above his wife, the spear laying on the floor by the bed, police said. Authorities also found Cobin on the bed, with slashes on his legs, according to court documents.

Cobin and Maria and Moses Ngolo were all taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, where doctors pronounced Maria Ngolo dead at 12:43 a.m. Sunday. Cobin has since been released, Musto Carroll said, while Moses Ngolo remains in the hospital in fair condition.

An autopsy on Maria Ngolo will be performed this morning, Luzerne County Coroner John P. Corcoran said.

As Harun Ngolo arrived at District Justice Daniel O'Donnell's office about 11:30 a.m. Sunday for arraignment, the diminutive man who immigrated from Zaire in 1994 trudged into the door, refusing to answer reporters' questions.

Before being escorted to a waiting police van outside, Ngolo sat in a room with two officers and shook his head.

Harun Ngolo remains in Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he was remanded without bail until his preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.

From: http://thedailyreview.com/news/man-charged-with-stabbing-wife-son-grandson-1.857406