Another video recording of the extra-judicial statement made by Chidinma Ojukwu, who is standing trial for the murder of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, was yesterday played before the Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square.
However, unlike the first confessional video played by the prosecution before the court last week, Chidinma Ojukwu denied killing Autauga or knowing the persons responsible for the murder.
The defendant could be heard in the video telling the investigating police officer, Olusegun Bamidele, that she left the scene of the crime without reporting the incident to the police because she was scared.
Ojukwu was arraigned before the court alongside one Adedapo Quadri on an eight-counts bordering on the offences of murder, forgery and stealing.
The state also arraigned Chidinma’s sister, Chioma Egbuchu, from whom the late Ataga’s iPhone 7, was said to have been recovered on one count of receiving stolen property.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The video was tendered by the prosecution through Bamidele, who is yet to conclude his testimony before the court.
In the new video, the first defendant, (Chidinma Ojukwu) while being interrogated by the police said, “l don’t know who entered and killed him. I just picked my things and left because I was scared.
“I did not say that I didn’t know him, I said I did not kill him, I cannot kill anybody.’’
When one member of the team of investigators asked why she said the blood stains on her clothes were her period, she was heard saying, “I cannot kill somebody.
“I don’t know who came in after I left the room. When I came back I saw him bleeding. I had to leave because I was scared, I did not kill him, I don’t know who killed him.”
Asked when she saw him, in the pool of his blood, why she left him instead of calling for help, she responded that it was because she was scared.
She was also asked why she ordered Loud smoke and Rohypnol, the defendant answered that it was the deceased that ordered it and that she doesn’t know where he ordered it from as she just went to pick it up.
The investigators also asked the defendant why she took the deceased’s two iPhones and Mac laptops, she said she just took them because they were among her things and left because she was scared.
The ninth prosecution witness, Bamidele, also explained to the court how the handwritten statement of the first defendant was taken and how the second and third defendants were arrested.
Bamidele testified that after the arrest of the first defendant, on June 23, 2021, her written statement was recorded on June 24.
The police officer stated, “She started writing by herself, but because her handwriting wasn’t legible I told her that she should ensure that her writings are clear or that she can write in capital letters.
“It was at that point that she said I should write for her and she confessed to killing the deceased.
“She also mentioned how she had killed Michael Usifo Ataga and went away with the knife, phones and Macbook laptop. We took the first defendant to the computer village with her laptop and we located the phone hub.
“I and my OC went and we met one Yomi, we invited him initially but he insisted on knowing what happened so I told him about the incident. When he came to our office, we gave him the whole details and he said it was a few days ago that the first defendant came to sell the laptop to them, and he did the transactions with one of his colleagues Ifeoluwa Oluwo.
“That was how the MacBook was recovered and the first defendant confessed that she was the one who sold the laptop to them.
“On that same June 24, I remember she mentioned one DG that assisted her in getting an ID card, driver’s license, and Access Bank ATM, among others but that she doesn’t know his full name, but only speaks with him on phone.
“I now said ok, assist us in this investigation so that we can get this DG, she said she doesn’t know the house.
“In the course of the investigation we studied her call logs very well. We noticed that there was a frequent call log with a particular number between June 15, 17, 18 and 21, the tracker led us to the arrest of the second defendant.
“The team traced the second defendant to Surulere before he was arrested, the second defendant threw away his phone through the window and also attempted to jump through the window but he was held by the waist.
“Four other phones were recovered from him, two small-size itel phones and two Tecno phones.
“Eventually when he was brought to our office I called him DG, and he said his name was not DG, then I confronted him with the evidence and he then narrated how he met Chidinma.
“He said he met Chidinma through a friend called Sam, who was an ex-boyfriend of the first defendant and that he is capable of getting an international passport, driver’s license, and a statement from the bank.
“The second defendant said that he got Chidinma’s number from Sam and after conversations, he visited her at choice places at Sabo Yaba.
“Along the line, he said there was a particular day during the week when Chidinma called him and requested that he gets her Loud smoke and Rohypnol, he collected the money and went to the Shitta area of Surulere and got the Rophynol from the Mallam in that area.
“He said he remembered sending it to the first defendant while she was at Lekki, through a dispatched rider, he told me that he supplied her two or three times in Lekki, with Loud smoke and Rohypnol.
“He said on one of the occasions he called the first defendant when the dispatched rider got to Lekki and she went to collect it,” the witness said.
On the third defendant, the witness said she was arrested through the help of the foster father of Chidinma Ojukwu, their uncle and mother.
He said the third defendant told the team of investigators that the iPhone was given to her by Chidinma and when she asked her where she got the phone from, she said it was one of her boyfriends that gave her.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned the case to October 20 for continuation of the trials.
