Grim revelations of how Cynthia Osukogu’s corpse was found in the Camillas Hotel in Festac Town, Lagos State was relayed in the much awaited trial of four accused persons in the murder of the retired army general’s daughter, which began on Friday.
The office of the Attorney-General of Lagos State arraigned four men – Okwumo Nwabufo, 33; Olisaeloka Ezike, 23; Orji Osita, 33; and Nonso Ezike, 25 – before Justice Olabisi Akinlade of the Ikeja High Court.
The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, led the prosecution team, which arraigned the accused on a four count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, murder, stealing and putting Rohypnol Flunitrazepan tablets, a killer drug, in Osukogu’s drink.
The accused were also said to have chained her hands and strangled her to death.
Osita, a pharmacist with Oxpham Pharmacy, Festac Town, was charged with negligence for selling Rohypnol Flunitrazepan tablets to Olisaeloka without a doctor’s prescription.
Nonso was accused of being in possession of a Bold 5 Blackberry stolen from the deceased.
Okwumo and Olisaeloka were also accused to have stolen three Blackberry phones valued at N150,000, jewelry, passport and driving licence belonging to the deceased.
The accused however pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following the plea, Ipaye called called the first witness, Ifeyinwa Njebu, a former receptionist at the Camillas hotel, who was on duty at the time Osukogu was murdered.
The court took time to watch a footage of the CCTV camera in the hotel.
Njebu told the court that she identified the first and second defendants from the CCTV footage.
In her evidence, Njegbu narrated to the court what transpired while she on duty.
She said: “On Saturday 21, July 2012, I checked in two guests, a man and a woman, who claimed to be couple, into room C1 of the hotel at about 12am.
“About 8am while I was preparing to hand over to one of my colleagues, Vivian Amule, the couple informed me through the phone that they were checking out.
“After I had handed over to my colleague, I asked her to check out the couple since they had told me that they were leaving that morning.
“When I resumed duty the next day, I was briefed that the couple had left and that a brother of the man had taken over the room because the room was not going to expire until 12pm of July 22, 2012|
“While I was sitting at the reception, a man in brown long sleeve shirt went straight into the bar with a brown bag and he was drinking.
“I asked the first defendant if he lodged in the hotel and he said yes and was staying but he was going to the ATM machine to pay for the next day.
“He said his girl friend was still upstairs with the key.
“I later saw a man, who is fair in complexion, that wore a dark sun glasses coming down from the upstairs towards her.
“The second defendant, in the bar, met with the first defendant, Nwabufor Okwumo.
“They didn’t show up as they said but around 3pm the next day, someone called the hotel intercom phone and identified himself as the occupant of room C1.
“He said he is not going to return to the hotel, saying: ‘You people should remove the Idiot from the room.’
“I replied that sir: ‘but you promised to come back and pay for the room.’
“The only thing he did was to drop the phone.
“Immediately, I called the manager and explained what had happened.
“So he told me that if he doesn’t come back, the girl will pay for the C1 room.
“So he told me to call the room through the company’s intercom phone and I called but there was no response.
“The manager, Mr. Victor, went upstairs and said he knocked at the door and there was no response.
“So he told me to take the master key, since I am a lady like her, that I should go and open the door.
“So, I went upstairs to the room and knocked severally and there was no response.
“So I used the master key to open the door and I met the deceased, Cynthia, naked on the bed, with one of her legs touching the ground in room C1 and I was shocked and shouted Jesus.”
After hearing the witness, the counsel to the third and fourth defendants, Orji Osita and Ezike Nonso, applied for their bail.
Ruling on the bail, Justice Akinlade granted the third defendant bail in the sum of N1 million, while the fourth defendant was granted bail in the sum of N2 million, with two sureties, with one of the sureties a grade level 14 civil servant resident in Lagos State and with proof of three years tax payment and must own a property with a genuine Certificate of Occupancy.
The judge ordered that Orji be remanded in prison until he meets his bail conditions.
The case was adjourned till February 22, 2013 for the continuation of trial.
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