•Lady who killed lover says ‘There was sex; no money, and I became angry’
THOUGH many people have used the social network to connect positively,
the story of Cynthia Osokogwu who was killed in Lagos State by her
Facebook friend in July 2012 sent shivers down the spine of everyone who
heard the sad story.
But it seems as if some users of social
networks are yet to grasp the lessons of their usage, as another young
man recently fell victim when a lady he connected with on Badoo network
murdered him in cold blood over what she tagged “unfulfilled promises.”
The life of a young man, Charles Bankole Orisanya from Akoko in Ondo
State, who was working with Halliburton in Rivers State ended sadly and
brutally on September 19, 2014 when his 26-year-old girlfriend, Loretta
Odikagbo, snuffed life out of him. She was however apprehended almost
three months after, precisely December 9, 2014 after a painstaking
investigation by the Homicide Section of the Rivers State Police
Command.
Senior police officers and detectives who investigated
the case told Crime Reports that the method of killing was an uncommon
one in Nigeria, as Miss Odikagbo, popularly called Loretta, and two
accomplices allegedly tapered late Orisanya’s mouth, hands and legs
before covering his head with a polythene bag. Loretta was said to have
sat on the deceased’s head while one of the accomplices, Ime Francis
Moses Jnr., held his neck until he became lifeless.
According to
information gathered by Crime Reports, Loretta Odikagbo, a student of
Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, met Orisanya on Badoo network and they
started dating online. They connected physically and the relationship
blossomed over the next months. Along the line, Loretta fell out of love
with her lover. And the reason she gave was that her lover boy was not
fulfilling his promises. The deceased, who was in his early 30s, was a
civil engineer and a staff of Halliburton Company at Trans-Amadi area of
Port Harcourt, it was learnt.
On September 19, 2014, the lover
invited the lady to his house but she did not come alone. Crime Reports
learnt that she hired two men to go with her and hid them under the
staircase of the lover’s residence.
In order not to arouse any
suspicion, Loretta released herself totally to her lover and engaged in a
passionate love making session with him. After the man climaxed, he
rolled off and got ready for sleep. The lady was said to have quietly
opened the door to let the two accomplices in. Pointing a gun-like
object at Bankole, Loretta and the boys used a rope and masking tape to
tie his hands and legs.
Satisfied that she had dealt with her
lover, Loretta left for an Automated Teller Machine to collect all the
cash in Bankole’s account. Of course, she had earlier collected the
secret pin from him under duress. Not done, the lady was said to have
returned and had gone to her lover’s kitchen to pick a polythene bag to
cover his head after taping his mouth, and sat on his head. One of the
accomplices, Moses, held the man’s neck until he gave up the ghost. The
two men also took their victim’s shirts, shoes and other personal items
while Loretta went for his LG phone and laptop.
When the case was
reported at a police station, it was learnt that there was no single
clue that could be used to trail the killers. But when the case was
transferred to Department of Criminal Investigation, Rivers State Police
Command, the crack detectives investigating the case were able to
resolve the mystery as they worked on an item picked from the scene
crime. This eventually led to Loretta’s arrest and, subsequently,
Moses’, while the third suspect is still at large.
In an
interview with Loretta, she claimed that she decided to deal with late
Orisanya because he was not fulfilling all his promises to her. Her
narration went thus: “I am from Rumuomasi, Obio/Akpor Local Government
area of Rivers State. I was born on May 2, 1988. I hold a Diploma in
Mass Communication and was to resume for my HND in January 2015 but I
was arrested in December 2014.
“I asked a friend, Moses to help
harass a man who was my boyfriend but is now deceased. I met Bankole
(Orisanya) through a social network called Badoo in January 2014 and we
got intimate online since he was at the rig offshore when we met. He was
there for two months and we became internet lovers. We were chatting
and exchanging pictures. When he came back, he invited me over and we
started dating.
“The basis of it all was money. When I met him,
it was all promises upon promises. Along the line, the sex was going on
and the money was not coming. He would give me N10,000, N15,000 but that
was not what I expected from him. Also when we first met, to me, he was
a single man but along the line, I discovered he was married.
“We talked about it but he didn’t want the affair to end. He said that
it would not be a problem and he could handle it. But I only continued
with him because I was waiting for the promises to be fulfilled. I was
not interested in marriage to him. We had a bit of misunderstanding
concerning money and our relationship. I asked my friend who is also my
in-law to help me so that I could get the money forcefully from Bankole.
“Along the line, I could not control my anger so I asked my in-law to
come help harass him to get what I could get from him and move on with
my life.
“On a particular night, he called me and I went to his
place with my in-law and one other guy. I felt it was an opportunity to
deal with him. We went to his residence and I managed to sneak the two
men into the compound. I hid them under the stairs. I went in to Bankole
and we made love. After we were done, I left him in the bedroom and
went to the kitchen as if I wanted to drink water, and let the guys in. I
made it look like both of us were being robbed. We met Bankole in the
sitting room; probably trying to know what kept me away for long.
“There was no light. I didn’t see any gun. My in-law was holding a tape
while the other guy held a torch and something that looked like a gun.
Bankole and I went on our knees and the guys were threatening us, asking
for money. My lover told them that he had money in his account so he
gave them his ATM card pin number.
“My-in law tied his hands with
the tape and second guy acted like I had to be the one to follow him to
the ATM. It was raining heavily that night. It was almost midnight. We
left for the ATM and I withdrew a little over N120,000 and paid the guy
off. I gave him about N30,000 or thereabouts. My in-law came to meet me
at the ATM and I also gave him almost N50,000.
“I took Bankole’s
LG phone while his laptop was brought to me the following day by my
in-law. I can’t remember what the other guy took from Bankole’s house. I
didn’t know anything about the polythene that was used to cover his
head.”
Loretta said she did not bother to go back to Orisanya’s
house so did not know that he died. “I didn’t have the intention of
dating him anymore; I just wanted to move on. I only knew about
Bankole’s death when I was arrested.”
Moses (30), who said he
hails from Akwa Ibom State, however gave a contrary narration to
Loretta’s. According to him, “Loretta called me and said that she and
her boyfriend were having some issues. She said he was owing her some
money and had refused to ‘settle’ her. She said she would call me to go
and harass him promising to notify me whenever he called her. Before
then she gave me some money to buy a torchlight, which I did.
“On
a day, she called me and came to meet me. We went to Rumuomasi to pick
another guy called Winkoro. He refused being part of the plan and we
left him. As we walked, we saw a boy whom I knew but don’t know his
name. I introduced him to her and she explained her intention to him and
he joined us.
“She took us to the man’s house and kept us under
the staircase. Earlier, she gave the other guy a rope and masking tape
and I was with a torch light and an iron object that looked like a gun.
After a while, she called us in and we got into the kitchen. Minutes
later, according to her instruction, we got into the room where she was
with her boyfriend.
“I pointed the torch at the man and said: “Na
you dey owe our sister and you no wan pay”. The lover boy pleaded that
he was going to pay; that we should calm down. The guy with us tied the
man’s legs with a rope and tapered his hands. Loretta stood up and
slapped the man repeatedly. After that she asked the man of money but he
said he had no money at home. He pointed at his ATM cards and gave
Loretta the pin number.
“She and the other guy left for the ATM
and I stayed with our victim. I later called her to confirm if the pin
was right and she said yes. I asked if I should start coming but she
asked me to wait at the man’s house. Before she left, she and the other
guy packed some items like laptop, phone. When she came back, she went
to the man’s room.
“She came out, went to the kitchen, brought a
polythene bag and said that if I did not assist her in killing the man,
if the bubble burst, I would be the first person she would mention. She
covered the man’s head with the polythene bag and sat on his head while I
assisted her in holding the man’s neck until he became motionless.
“Loretta gave me N28,000. I was arrested on December 10, 2014. She was
the one who led the police to me. I took three shirts and a sandal from
the man’s house. Taking the man’s life was not in the initial plan.”
On the relationship between them, Moses said that he and Loretta used
to drink alcohol together while she was also a chain smoker. Loretta
confirmed this and added that she used to smoke marijuana.
Moses
also revealed that a case akin to the current one occurred three years
ago. “Loretta had a man she was going out with. They had some problems
and because Loretta had the man’s spare key, she gave it to me and asked
me to go and pack the man’s things and her own too, so that it would
look like robbery. The man got her arrested and I was also picked. We
returned the things to the man,” Moses disclosed. Again, Loretta
confirmed this and said that the man was a staff of Shell.
When
contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers State, DSP
Ahmad Muhammad, confirmed the story, saying that the case was still
under investigation at the Department of Criminal Investigation.
Source: TRIBUNE:
