She died of ailment, suspect says
A 400-level Petrochemical Engineering student of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Damian Okoligwe, has been arrested by the Rivers State Police Command, for allegedly killing and dismembering the body of his girlfriend, Justina Tiffany Otuene, in Obio/Akpor Local Council of the state.
Parading the 24-year-old suspect, yesterday, at the Police Command at Moscow road, the State Police Commissioner, Emeka Nwonyi, said operatives of the Ozuoba Division received a complaint from a good Samaritan and neighbour from Road 20, back of NTA Ozuoba following a very bad smell coming out from the suspect’s apartment.
He said on arrival at the Okoligwe’s apartment, the operatives forcefully opened the door, and a Ghana must-go bag containing a lifeless body was recovered.
He explained that the police officers did not meet the occupants of the house when they arrived.
The Police boss stated that they went back to the station and in search of the fleeing suspect, who is the presumed boyfriend of the deceased, 24. He was eventually traced and arrested for an inquiry.
Nwonyi added that the lifeless and butchered body of Otuene, a 20-year-old 300-level biochemistry student at Uniport, was recovered and deposited at the mortuary.
He, however, said a preliminary investigation is in progress, adding that the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for discreet investigation.
Meanwhile, the suspect, Okoligwe, who claimed to be a BetNaija agent, admitted that the slain girl was his off-and-on girlfriend.
He confessed that he rented the two-bedroom flat where the incident occurred barely one week before.
Okoligwe, however, denied killing the victim, saying the young lady, who he booked a cab to convey to his house, took ill immediately she arrived at his house and overslept, forgetting the time she was billed to return home
Narrating the incident, he said: “We used to date for a while, but we kept on going back and forth. She entered Bolt and came to my house. We planned that we are going to see on that day.
“She was supposed to leave that night, but I slept off because she came at about 4:00 p.m. After, I was very sick and when I woke up, she was already lying down in bed because I slept in the parlour.
“I woke up that morning very sick, so I went into the room to check her. She was still sleeping, then I went back to the parlour.
“Later, I was calling her, but she didn’t respond. So, I had to go check her out, but she was not moving at all. She was stiff. After that I did not know what to do, so I carried her body into another room. And then I called my brother to come and pick me up.
“Her mutilated body was when I was trying to get rid of her body into the Ghana-Must-Go bag.
“I did not report to the police because I was thinking that I will surely be blamed. When I came back on that Wednesday from my brother’s place where I went to take treatment, that was the day the whole police issue came about.”
However, the victim’s elder brother, John Otuene, called for justice for his sister. He alleged that his younger sister was kidnapped.
Otuene explained that after his sister was not seen for days and subsequent efforts were made to find her, they received a call from an unknown number which demanded ransom and days later they were informed of her death.
