The trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, an undergraduate student, for the murder of Super TV’s Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga, resumed yesterday at the Lagos High Court in Tafawa Balewa Square on Lagos Island, with testimony from Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Olusegun Bamidele.
He told Justice Yetunde Adesanya that the murder suspect, Chidinma, told him she drugged the deceased’s drink, and he believed her.
Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos (Unilag), is on trial for the charge alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu, and Adedapo Quadri.
Bamidele who is serving with the homicide department of the State Criminal Investigating Department (SCID) Yaba, was answering questions about the incident while being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Mr. Onwuka Egwu.
At the resumption of the cross-examination, a video displaying the last moments of the deceased, Ataga and the suspect, Chidinma was played to ascertain the items in the video as listed in the evidence given to the court as exhibits.
Egwu asked the witness to confirm that the items were handed over to him in the state they were seen in the video.
“The belt and the sneaker were put together in a nylon bag while the key was used in removing the car from the compound to Maroko police station. There was no blood stains on them.
“In your record of August 20, 2021, you reported finding a blood-stained t-shirt, confirm that the blood-stained t-shirt was not tendered here”, Egwu said.
“The t-shirt counsel is referring to wasn’t brought here to the court because the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) people took it for analysis”, answered the officer.
“So this t-shirt has not been tendered”? the counsel asked.
“It’s not in this court, it’s at the DNA office, the witness answered.
“So you can’t confirm the DNA of the blood on that t-shirt?, asked Egwu.
“I cannot confirm”. Bamidele replied.
“Can you confirm that the nylon she entered the place with is conspicuously on the table”.
Yes, replied Bamidele
“Did you find out what was in that bag? “
asked Egwu.
“The essence of the video was to establish that the defendant and the deceased were there, so I didn’t look into the nylon. She denied knowing the deceased at first instance. I didn’t get to know what was in the bag”, said Bamidele.
The witness was also questioned on the electronic gadgets recovered.
Did She tell you the MacBook was a gift? the lawyer asked.
She told me before she left the apartment, she took along the deceased two phones and a Macbook, the witness answered.
Did she in any of her statements say that the MacBook was a gift and the iPhone was hers?
“None of the properties belong to her. She told me one on one. Interaction and written statement are two different things.”
Counsel to the second defendant, Babatunde Busari also cross-examined the witness.
He asked the witness if there was any document to show that all the items recovered from the apartment of the first defendant, Adedapo Quadri, were forged.
The items include bank statements, Unilag school ID card, driver’s license, an International passport and the ID card of one Mary Johnson.
“I did not investigate whether it was forged or not, none of the documents were found in the custody of the first defendant, replied the police officer.
Bamidele also stated that It was based on the suspicion of the timeline of the telephone conversation between the first and second defendant that he requested the call log from the telephone network but he did not tender the transcript of the call log.
When asked about the drug Rophybol, the witness testified that the first defendant, Chidinma told him that a dose of the drug is capable of knocking a person out. He also said that he tendered a sample of the drug in evidence.
“Do you have any training in narcotics or pharmaceutical speciality? Are you aware of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the counsel asked.
“Yes”.
Do you have a report from the NDLEA on the Rophynol tendered before this court?
“No”.
You believed that the first defendant must have spiked the drink of the deceased? asked Busari.
“It’s not like I believe, based on my interaction with her, she told me what she did and I believed her”, said the witness.
Justice Adesanya has adjourned till January 29 for the continuation of the trial.