On Tuesday, May 10, DSP Olusegun Bamidele, the ninth prosecution witness in Chidinma Ojukwu ’s continuing trial as the accused murder suspect of Super TV’s Usifo Ataga, told the court how investigations showed where the late Ataga and Chidinma may have met before arriving at the crime site.

 

Chidinma’s phone was followed throughout the inquiry, according to Bamidele, who began his evidence before a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square.

 

“While I was exploring the background, I and a friend of the deceased went to Angel Villa Hotel in Lekki,” the witness stated in response to inquiries from Lagos State’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, Mrs. Adenike Oluwafemi.

 

“The owner of the hotel was approached and the story was related to him.

 

“Luckily, the hotel had a CCTV, which revealed the presence of the deceased and Chidinma at the hotel.”

 

The witness added that, “After we tracked her to her home in Alagomeji and brought her to the DCP’s office, she was asked about her relationship with the deceased.

 

“She denied initially, and this prompted us to deploy the CCTV.

 

“She then agreed that she is the Chidinma Ojukwu we were looking for.

 

“We then took her, in the company of her foster father, one Onoh Ojukwu, back to the house in Alagomeji where we initially arrested her, and searched the house in their presence.

 

“The cloth was stained with blood. Then Onoh Ojukwu shouted: ‘Chidinma, you have killed me, you have done something wrong outside’. Chidinma was crying at this point.

 

“We also recovered the black/blue long sleeve gown she wore when she left the apartment in Lekki.

 

“This further established that she has something to do with the deceased.

 

“We recovered Access bank statements of the deceased.

 

“We recovered UBA bank statements with the name Mary Johnson, an ID card with Chidinma’s picture, but had the name Mary Johnson, an international passport with her picture, a UNIPORT certificate with Chidinma’s name boldly written on it, her phone and some other documents I can’t recollect.

 

“We left, and then went back to the office.

 

“She said she knew the deceased, that they met at a hangout in Victoria Island.

 

“She added that the deceased was introduced to her by her friend’s boyfriend.

 

“She mentioned the friend as Fiyin and the boyfriend as Tony.

 

“She said the relationship started in February and after a while, they developed sexual relationship.

 

“I remember Chidinma mentioned a date, 12th June 2021, when she received a call from the deceased that they needed to see and go out. Based on the request, she sourced for the apartment.

 

“She confessed that shortly after she arrived at the apartment, on the 13th, the deceased drove in, in his Range Rover.

 

“On his arrival, she said they were both hungry and drove out to eat and returned to the apartment, watched a film, and conversed leading up to sex.

 

“They also engaged in smoking ‘loud’. On the 14th, they did the same thing.

 

“She said she initially came in with the loud smoke. That’s the name she called it. After they finished it, they needed more.

 

“Chidinma recollected that she made a call to the second defendant, Oladapo Quadri who helped her source for the ‘loud,’ and another drug called ‘Rohypnol.’

 

“She also mentioned that the items were brought in through a dispatch rider to the apartment.

 

“She described Adedapo Quadri as someone introduced to her by a friend. That Dapo supplied the drugs to her frequently.

 

“The IPO asked her about the potency of the drugs. She responded that a tablet is enough to knock out whoever uses it.

 

“Chidinma said on the 15th, after engaging in smoking, the deceased asked for more sex, which she denied him.

 

“The deceased went to the chair to relax, and she thought he was no more interested in sex, only for him to return to the bed to ask for more sex.

 

“She said she pushed him away, which resulted in him knocking her head against a stool that had a glass.

 

“Having sustained injury on the head and knees, there was a struggle between them and she said she managed to lay hands on a kitchen knife with which she stabbed the deceased on the neck.

 

“She confessed that she stabbed him severally without counting, and the deceased eventually fell to the floor in the room.”

 

Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned further proceedings till May 12, 2022.