24-year-old man identified as Saliu Ladayo, who was arrested and sent to Olokuta prison in Akure, the Ondo State capital in 2018, for the alleged murder of his 19-year-old girlfriend, Nwamma Confidence Chidiebere, has refused to marry her corpse.
Ladayo allegedly stabbed Chidiebere to death last May, for calling him a ‘lazy youth. He later blamed the devil for his actions, saying he was under a spell when he killed the girl.
The family of the late Chidiebere had insisted that Ladayo marry her corpse, warning him that if he refuses to do so, his family members would not exceed her age at the time of her death.
“You must follow us to our state, Imo, where the wedding will be carried out like a normal wedding, with wedding gowns, rings and even the payment of bride price before she could be buried, “the girl’s family had told him.
The suspect was said to have agreed initially to the traditional rites arrangement but later changed his mind, a family source said.
“He is a Yoruba boy and the Ibo culture is probably strange to him,” the source added.
Daily Trust correspondent learnt that Chidiebere’s family was said to have later softened the conditions handed the suspect by monetizing them, but his family were yet to show up to concretise the arrangement.
According to the mother of the deceased, Mrs Lovelyn Nwamma, the parents of the boy, they learnt, live in Lagos, while the boy was until the incident lived with his uncle in Akure.
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“We have asked them to bring money to perform the rites without them but they have not shown up, while the corpse of our daughter has been lying in the mortuary for eight months,” she said.
The case is pending in court and will come up on January 15, 2019.
Both suspect and victim were seeking for admission at the time of Chidiebere’s death as she had only recently finished her secondary education before then. Narrating what happened that fateful day to newsmen, Ladayo said
“After she returned from writing her West African Examination , some people on the street told her I came home with another woman . She was so annoyed that she came to my place penultimate Saturday, very angry with me , saying a girl came to her that I came to ask her out. She started cursing me that if I make love to another girl , I won ’t make it in life . I appealed to her to cool down , that why would she lay curse on me . I told her I can ’t do that and I returned the curse back to her. She left in annoyance. She returned on May 15 and I asked her to forgive me and we were talking. I said she should return the curse and she said she couldn’ t do that and I seized her phone. We were both inside dragging the phone. I was begging her to return the curse and she went out to tell one of our neighbours that I seized her phone.
“ I told the woman what she did and the woman left to call another neighbour, but before she (first neighbour) came back , I didn ’t know what came over me ; I went to take a knife and stabbed her to death ,” Ladayo said.
A source had earlier revealed that Ladayo and the deceased had incessant disagreement as the former reportedly complained that his lover used to abuse him and ridicule him , labeling him a lazy youth with misfortunes. According to her,
“Both of them were in the house on the fateful day when an argument ensued between them and the argument led to a fight, which led the man to take a knife and stab the girl on her chest and other parts of her body”
She added that people in the neighbourhood promptly rushed into the house when they heard the cry of the deceased , who was found in a pool of her own blood , gasping for survival. All efforts to save her life proved abortive as she reportedly gave up the ghost on her way to the hospital.
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