Hafsoh Lawal: Bello Denies Killing, Admits Dismembering Victim’s Body

The prime suspect in the murder of Hafsoh Lawal, a final year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, AbdulRahman Bello, told the court on Wednesday that he did not kill the deceased.

Bello, who opened his defence before the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin and presided over by Justice Hannah Ajayi, said Hafsoh died when she gasped during sexual intercourse due to asthma attack.

He, however, confessed to have singlehandedly butchered the deceased after taking alcohol.

“I went out to get inhaler for her when I noticed that she was gasping because she had asthma. By the time I came back into the room, she had died.

“So, I left my place to take alcohol and returned to cut the body parts,” Bello told the court.

The defendant disclosed further he used the knife and cutlass found by police detectives in his two-room apartment at Olunlade area of Ilorin to cut Hafsoh’s body into pieces.

During cross examination by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the prime suspect also confirmed to the court that he did not call any of his neighbours to the incident, nor did he report the matter at the police station or took the body of the deceased to hospital, “because I was afraid of her father”.

He also denied keeping the blood and the hands of the deceased purposely for money making rituals.

The suspect said he regretted all the actions he took over the incident, adding that he was deeply sad.

He insisted that he did not kill the deceased, saying that he loved her, “because I can’t ever meet her kind. She cared for my life. Even, I told the Police that she made me to do 2024 NABTEB examination. And that she made me to take JAMB form in preparation for the just concluded examination. She was exceptional in my life,” Bello said.

He said he was tortured by the police to say in the video evidence, presented in court, that he poisoned the food taken by the deceased and that he strangulated her.

All the other four co-defendants in the matter denied knowledge of the killing of the deceased, when testifying before the court.

Meanwhile, all the defence counsels, unanimously proposed seven days to file their written addresses concurrently before the court while the prosecution counsel asked for 10 days after the defence counsels would have served theirs.

Justice Hannah Ajayi, who granted the requests, adjourned the matter to July 2, 2025, for final adoption of the addresses.