By Femi Ogbonnikan, CORRESPONDENT, Lagos..
“He ignored me and wanted to have sex with a colleague. He pretended as if he did not know me when he walked into the hotel. He neither uttered a word nor complimented me. And his strange action prompted me to stab him in his left arm until he gave up the ghost shortly after.”
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Hope Nkechi Okafor made these disclosures when she was paraded before newsmen at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti Street, Yaba, Lagos, on Monday, March 8, 2010.
The 26-year-old suspect, currently in detention, admitted knowing the deceased, Biodun Samuel, popularly called ‘Abbey’ as a regular and familiar client at their brothel, Nice Time Hotel, located at Iyana Ipaja, an outskirt of Lagos.
“Abbey was a nice man. Whenever I cooked foods he would eat from them. Virtually, everybody in the hotel knew him,” offered the Oboh, Imo State-born suspect.
But last Monday, March 1, 2010, at about 12a.m., Hope, who until the incident operated as a prostitute at the brothel, stabbed the cobbler to death with a broken bottle. “On that fateful day, Abbey walked into the hotel and ignored me where I was sitting to compliment me. The next thing, he went to the room which is next to mine and knocked the door. Initially, I did not want to say anything, but I took courage and told him that the person staying in the next room had a visitor and he should not disturb them. The lady occupant of the next room just joined us and I do not know her name. He asked, ‘what concerns you? But I told him that the person he had come to see was with me, discussing together before she went in, to attend to her customer. He did not take to the advice and when he had no response, he faced me. Instead, he rose up his hand and rained a dirty slap on my face and subsequently, on my mouth. I became furious and broke a bottle of soft-drink I was drinking before he came in, and I stabbed him on his left arm. He fell down and bled until he was rushed by his friends, who were also regular callers at our hotel to a nearby hospital for treatment. It was later I learnt he had passed on, but I never meant to kill him,” she narrated.
She continued, “Boys, who were around, were attracted by the incident and they descended heavily on me. They beat me white and black until I was rescued by ‘Aji White,’ the hotel’s ticketer. He rushed me to the director’s office where I was kept for few hours until the dust settled. It was from the office the news filtered to me that Abbey had died. Also, it was inside the office that detectives came to pick me up and whisked me to Gowon Estate Divisional Police Station. And from the station, I was brought down to this place (SCID, Panti Street, Yaba),” she narrated.
Recalling how she joined the trade about eight months ago, she said, “I grew up in Benin, immediately after my secondary school education and subsequently, learnt a vocational trade in hairdressing. I was convinced that I would be brought to Lagos to work as a cook in a restaurant by one Aunty Evelyn, but the offer later turned out to be prostitution. I was staying in Benin, Edo State capital but soon had a problem because I took in, for one Lucky in year 2007. The man refused to accept responsibility for the pregnancy and soon gave birth to a baby boy. The hardship was too much. To eke out a living was hard before I was introduced to Aunty Evelyn by a sister who promised to assist by taking me to Lagos. Two of us, including a lady (names withheld) were brought down to Lagos, but what we met on ground was different from our discussion. We were taken to the ‘Nice Time’ Hotel, Iyana Ipaja and conducted round everywhere within the brothel. When I could not hold my breath I had to call the attention of the Aunty to it and she advised that if we did not like the job we should arrange on how to return to Benin. We had no money on us and decided to settle for the job. We were given a permanent room each in the hotel, where we attended to our customers. The first two months, Aunty Evelyn would collect all amount realised except that she was only providing for our meals. Soon afterwards, she relocated to Benin while we stayed behind. And from everyman that slept with me, I collected N1, 000. At least, I made N6, 000 from the trade on a daily basis,” she added.
On whether her parents were aware when she took to prostitution, the suspect stated, “My parents were not aware until this incident occurred. They thought I was working in a good restaurant in Lagos, making good money, which I sent home to them on a regular basis. I left my village immediately I completed my secondary education in year 2002 and settled in Benin. My intention was to ensure that, I worked hard and became successful in life, because my parents are poor,” said Hope.
Frank Mba, Lagos State Police Command Public Relations Officer, while parading the suspect corroborated the confession of the 26-year-old whore whom she said stabbed the 32-year-old victim in his left arm, with a broken bottle.
According to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Biodun gave up the ghost when he was being rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
It was gathered that the corpse of the cobbler was taken to an undisclosed mortuary in Lagos, where it was established through postmortem examination that he died as a result of a stab inflicted on him by the prostitute.
He added that the homicide detectives at the SCID, Panti Street, Yaba, had completed investigation into the matter, while the case file is yet to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Alausa, Ikeja, for advice before the suspect would be arraigned before a competent law court
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