No One Assisted Me In Killing Ataga - Chidinma Says In Court
Category: Nigeria News
The Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) has watched the
chilling footage of Chidinma Ojukwu confessing to stabbing to death the Chief
Executive Officer of Super Tv, Usifo Michael Ataga, all by herself.
It also viewed the grim footage of Ataga’s lifeless body recorded
shortly after he was found in a Lagos serviced apartment.
Miss
Ojukwu, a 300-level, Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG), is the prime suspect in Ataga’s murder.
She is standing
trial for the alleged offense alongside her sister and third defendant Chioma
Egbuchu, and second defendant Adedapo Quadri.
They have been on
trial since October 12, 2021, when they were arraigned at the high court
before Justice Yetunde Adesanya.
According to the Lagos State
Government which is prosecuting them, the alleged murder took place on June
15, 2021, at 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
At
the resumption of proceedings, the prosecution played the video recording from
a Compact Disc (CD) on a large screen in the courtroom.
It showed
Ataga lying on the floor facing up with his hands spread open wearing a white
singlet and boxers stained with blood. His head was close to the wall and
there was blood on the floor on his right-hand side.
There were
also large blood stains on the floor and the pillow and duvet cover.
The video also showed Ojukwu narrating how she killed Ataga during
interrogation by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Olusegun Bamidele from
the Intelligence and Tactical Unit of the State Criminal Investigation
Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba.
The defendant said she met Ataga
through a friend and they started speaking to each other and that on June 13,
2021, he asked her to look for a place for them to stay, so she got the
short-let apartment where they ate, drank, took drugs and where he was killed.
Ojukwu said: “After I got the place on Sunday, we were smoking loud, drinking,
watching movies and 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; that was on June 14, 2021.
“Then on
Tuesday, we drank and smoked loud and I added Rophynol to his drink and we had
s3x. I was on the bed and he was on the chair. Then later he started
disturbing me for more s3x. I was tired and after struggling with him, he had
his way and still wanted more.
“He wanted it, he was no longer
himself and I thought he was no more interested in s3x, only for him to return
to the bed to ask for more s3x. I pushed him away, which resulted in him
hitting his head against a stool that had a glass. He had a cut on his leg and
he became weak.
“I got a knife and stabbed him in the neck, ribs
and stomach so that he would not be able to harm me. I tied his hands with
hand kerchief.
“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 (Ataga) was a
friend, that we just talked. I didn’t know him that deep and we did not talk
regularly.”
When she was asked in the video if she was assisted in
killing the deceased as she couldn’t have done it alone because of his
physique, Ojukwu said: “There was nobody that assisted me, I did it alone.
Asked why she didn’t call for help, she said: “Obviously I was
scared that was why I left.”
Asked what was the motive behind her killing Ataga, she said: “There was no
motive behind it.”
DSP Bamidele, who is the ninth prosecution
witness, also asked Ojukwu why she was using a foreign number and why she hid
her number. The defendant responded that she already had a foreign number
registered on social media that she used to chat with people.
Asked why the owner of the service apartment didn’t know her
identity, she replied: “She didn’t ask for my identification. It was a text
that I got. If she had said that the place was not available I would have left
for another place.”
On why she used a fake name “Mary Johnson” in
opening a bank account, the defendant said she tried her real name but the
account was blocked hence her decision to use Mary Johnson.
During
examination in chief by prosecution counsel Mrs Adenike Oluwafemi, Bamidele
said the police recovered some items from the defendant’s house, including a
small pink purse containing two syringes, eight pieces of Rophynol tablets,
two sanitary pads, a small perfume, jewellery, an iPhone, a notebook, a diary
and an HP laptop.
Other items were the defendant’s ID card with
her name Ojukwu Chidinma Adora, Ataga’s driving licence, Ojukwu’s UBA ATM
card, Super net ID card with Ataga’s name, then three other cards that had the
deceased’s name and six blank complimentary cards, among others.
In a short ruling, Justice Adesanya dismissed the defendant’s
objection and admitted the items in evidence.
Earlier, the witness
showed the court pictures of the apartment.
The three defendants
were arraigned on October 12, 2021 on a nine-count charge preferred against
them by Lagos State Government.
Ojukwu and Quadri are facing the
first to eight counts bordering on conspiracy, murder, stabbing, forgery,
making of bank statements and stealing.
The third defendant, Egbuchu, is facing the ninth count – stealing of iPhone 7
belonging to the late Ataga.
The case was adjourned till October
12, for the continuation of trial.
dont sat that
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