Chidinma makes U-turn, says ‘I don’t know who killed Ataga

The Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) on Tuesday resumed watching a police interrogation video of Miss Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super Tv, Usifo Michael Ataga.Ojukwu, in the video played before Justice Yetunde Adesanya, backtracked on her previous ‘confession’ of stabbing Ataga in the neck, ribs and stomach.

The defendant not only made a U-turn, she also denied knowing who killed him, adding that she found his corpse on the floor.

Ojukwu suggested that while she was out of the short-let apartment where she and Ataga wined, dined, did illegal drugs and had sex, someone entered the room and finished him off.

The court, on October 11, 2022, watched the chilling footage of Ojukwu confessing to stabbing Ataga, all by herself because he was bothering her “for more sex.”

“I pushed him away, which resulted in him hitting his head against a stool that had a glass. He had a cut on his leg and he became weak. I got a knife and stabbed him in the neck, ribs and stomach so that he would not be able to harm me. I tied his hands with a handkerchief,” Ojukwu said in the footage.

“There was nobody that assisted me, I did it alone,” she added, during interrogation by a team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Olusegun Bamidele from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba.

Ojukwu, a 300-level, Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), is standing trial for the alleged offence alongside her sister and third defendant Chioma Egbuchu, and second defendant Adedapo Quadri.

They have been on trial since October 12, 2021, following their arraignment before Justice Adesanya.

According to the Lagos State Government which is prosecuting them, the alleged murder took place on June 15, 2021, at 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

At the resumption of proceedings yesterday, the prosecution resumed playing the video on a screen in the courtroom.

The footage showed Ojukwu responding to the question of why she denied knowing the deceased.

“I did not say that I didn’t know him, I said I did not kill him, I cannot kill somebody,” she said.

On why she said the blood stains on her clothes were from her period, Ojukwu insisted that she could not have killed anyone.

“I don’t know who came in after I left the room. When I came back, I saw him (Ataga) bleeding. I had to leave because I was scared, I did not kill him, I don’t know who killed him.”

Asked why she did not call for help, the defendant emphasised that she was scared.

Ojukwu denied ordering for banned substances ‘Loud’ (a cannabis variant) and Rophynol, adding that Ataga ordered them while she merely went to receive them from a dispatched rider.

When the defendant was asked why she took the deceased’s two iPhones and a Mac laptop, she said they were among her things when she hurriedly left out of fear.

After the video stopped playing, prosecution counsel Mr. Yusuf Sule led DSP Bamidele in evidence.

The case was adjourned till October 20, for the continuation of trial.

Ondomind