CHIDINMA TOLD ME SHE SPIKED ATAGA'S DRINK - POLICE WITNESS TELLS COURT

Read Time:6 Minute, 33 Second

By Aishat Momoh. O.

An Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Olusegun Bamidele, on Wednesday told a Lagos State High court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) that Chidinma Ojukwu the alleged murder suspect of Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga told him she spiked the drink of the deceased and he believed her.

Ojukwu, a 300-level, Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos (Unilag), is facing trial for the offence alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu and one Adedapo Quadri.

Bamidele, a Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) serving with the homicide department of the State Criminal Investigating Department (SCID) Yaba, was cross examined by the defense counsel, Mr. Onwuka Egwu in the alleged murder case of Ataga, the Chief Executive Officer of SuperTV.

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 are 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 of finding a blood stained t- shirt, confirm that that blood stained t-shirt was not tendered here, Egwu requested.

The t-shirt counsel is referring to wasn’t brought here to the court because the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) people took it for analysis.

Your report marked exhibit P3, are you saying that this t shirt belongs to Babalola Disu.

Babalola Disu’s t shirt is not the same as this shirt.

So this t-shirt has not been tendered?
It’s not in this court, it’s at the DNA office.

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

The drink he took with a straw is not water, you don’t drink water with straw. I don’t know.

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.

Apart from Anglo Villa that you and Obiora visited did you visit any other eatery or lounge? No

Pw2 in his evidence on November 15, 2021 detailed all the things the defendant and the deceased took, including the table water but you didn’t mention them coming with any food.
As you can see, apart from the ground nut and plantain chip, there’s no other food item in the kitchen,

Yes, replied the witness.

During the interrogation she informed them that she had cause to go out severally to get food including the day of the incident and equally told you where she went to get food which is The Place Lekki.

Look at exhibit p36
Confirm that you can find The Place restaurant there and she told you it was on her return that she found the deceased in that state?

“Yes my lord.”

Pw2 also corroborated that the first defendant on the said date has gone out to buy food.
Reconfirm that aside from Angle Villa you did not visit The Place.

“No”

Okiki Obaji from Guarantee Trust bank, told you there was a withdrawal of N50,000 between the June 13 and 14 2021 by the defendant. Did you verify where those withdrawals were made and what they were for.

The counsel asked the witness to confirm from the video if what he is seeing of the door leading to deceased’s room shows there was a breaking in, not breaking out.

“The force I’m seeing could be from in or out, it’s not definite that its from inside or outside.

“You interrogated Babalola Disu what did he say happened at the door, asked the counsel.

“He said there was an altercation between the Disu and his girlfriend. In the course of him getting free from her he had to push her to get into his own apartment, only to realize that she fell on the door leading to Ataga’s room.

Did that pushing lead to the breaking of the door or not?

“According to Babalola he discovered that there was a damage to the door. He requested for a carpenter to come and fix it.

Who damaged the door?

That could have been as a result of Disu girlfriend’s fall.

It will be right to say that the person that broke that door, entered the room, is the same person that placed the sofa behind the door.
I don’t know.

Confirm that Ibrahim isiaka did not tell this court the mode or make of the phone used in transferring the video to their court.

No I did not, I only concentrate on my phone where I transferred the exhibit from.

The witness further states that he visited the property during the course of investigation four times and he collects that it has two gates in which one is manned the other gate is unmanned.

He also said the gates do not share a common area.

“Pw 2 said he goes on errands and pumps water for them, how does he do that if there are no common areas?

If he does all that, it doesn’t concern me, my concentration is on what happened. Pw1 maintains the units in front and at the back.

She told you the MacBook was a gift?

“She told me before she left the apartment, she took along the deceased two phones and macbook.

Did she in any of her statement say that the MacBook was a gift and the iPhone were 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.

“You told the court that all the documents you recovered from the first defendant apartment, bank statements, unilag school ID card, drivers license, International passport and the ID card of one mary Johnson and in respect of these you do not have any document saying that these documents are forged?

“I did not investigate whether it was forged or not, none of the documents were found in the custody of the first defendant, replied Bamidele.

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 for the call log from the telephone network but he did not tender the transcript of the call log.

You have spent 32 years on the force, so you are an experienced police officer on the job,

“Yes.

You said that the first defendant said if you take a dose of Rohypnol aka Rophy, it is capable of knocking a person out? You tendered a sample of this drug in evidence.

“Yes”

Do you have any training in narcotics or pharmaceutical specialty. Are you aware of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

“Yes”.

Do you have a report from the ndlea on the rophy 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 Yetunde Adesanya adjourned till January 29, 2023 for continuation of trial as earlier scheduled.