A Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square watched the video recording of the dead body of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, who was allegedly murdered on June 15, 2021.
Chidinma Ojukwu, an undergraduate, and Adedapo Quadri are standing trial for Ataga’s murder. The two suspects were arraigned alongside Ojukwu’s sister, Chioma Egbuchu, accused of stealing Ataga’s Phone.
The body of Ataga was seen in the video lying on the ground facing up, with his hands wide apart. He was putting on a white singlet and boxer pants stained with blood. His head was not far from a wall at the short-service apartment where he was allegedly murdered.
The floor was stained with blood. Also, blood stained the pillow and duvet on the bed in the room.
The same Compact Disc has a video revealing Ojukwu explaining how she murdered Ataga. In the video, Ojukwu explained that she met Ataga through a friend.
She said the deceased called her on June 13, 2021, and asked her to get a place for them to stay.
She said: “After I got the place on Sunday, we were smoking loud, drinking, watching movies
“Then, I went to get food, the drug we were taking got finished and I ordered another one and went downstairs to get it from the delivery guy in the morning.”
”Then, on Tuesday, we drank, smoke loud and I added Rophynol to his drink. We had sex, and I was on the bed and he was on a chair.
“Later, he started disturbing me for more sex. I was tired, and after struggling with him, he had his way and still wanted more.
“He was no longer himself, and I thought he was no more interested in sex, only for him to return to the bed to ask for more.
“I pushed him away which resulted in his hitting his head against a stool that had a glass, he had a cut on his leg and he became weak.”
While explaining further, Ojukwu said that she then took a knife and stabbed the deceased in the neck, ribs and stomach, so he would be unable to harm her.
She said: “I tied his hands with a handkerchief. His blood was out and I was scared. I just packed everything, my clothes were also stained with blood, I just packed my things and left.
“I took the knife and handkerchief, and when I got home, I threw the knife and handkerchief away.
“Michael was a friend. I didn’t know him that deeply, and we didn’t talk regularly.”
When asked whether she was assisted in killing the deceased in the video, Ojukwu said, “There was nobody that assisted me, I did it alone.”
When asked why she didn’t request for help, she said: “Obviously I was scared, that was why I left.”
She said that there was no motive for murdering Ataga.
In the video, DSP Olusegun Bamidele, the ninth prosecution witness in the murder trial from the Intelligence and Tactical Unit of the State Criminal Investigating Department, Panti Yaba, was seen quizzing Ojukwu at Panti.
The DSP also asked her why she was using a foreign phone number and why she hid her phone number.
In her response, she said she already had a foreign number registered on social media that she used to chat with people.
When asked why the service apartment owner didn’t know her identity, she said: “She didn’t ask for my identification.
“If she had said that the place was not available I would have left for another place.”
The prosecution counsel, Adenike Oluwafemi, later reminded the witness of his evidence on May 10, when he disclosed that some items were recovered from the defendant’s house.
Bamidele responded by listing the items he recovered from Ojukwu’s house.
He told Justice Yetunde Adesanya that a small pink purse containing two syringes, eight pieces of Rophynol tablets, two sanitary pads, a small perfume, jewelry, an iPhone belonging to first defendant, a notebook, a diary, and a HP laptop were recovered from her house.
The witness listed the other items to be an identity card with the name: Ojukwu Chidinma Adora; Ataga’s driver’s licence, Ojukwu’s United Bank for Africa automated teller machine card and Super net identity card in Ataga’s name.
According to the witness, other items recovered are three other cards that had the deceased’s name and six blank complimentary cards.
After identifying the items, the Prosecution Counsel prayed the court to admit them in evidence.
However, Ojukwu’s counsel, Mr C.C. Ezebube, objected to the admissibility of the items as evidence.
Ezebube disclosed that the custody of the items was not stated before the court – from the moment of recovery to when they were tendered before the court.
He said: “Some of the items could have been picked from anywhere, there is no originality as these items can be reproduced from anywhere.”
The counsel of Quadri, Mr Babatunde Busari, and Egbuchu’s counsel, F.O. Ilesunmi, did not object to the tendering of the items in evidence.
The judge in a ruling dismissed the objection and admitted the items in evidence.
The case was adjourned October 12, 2022 for the continuation of trial.
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