A suspect, Joseph Fekala, has narrated how he allegedly killed a 25-year-old woman, Kate Ogwoh, and buried her corpse in his apartment in Okaka community, in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, over failed forex deal.
The 27-year-old suspect, who was arrested by the Bayelsa State Police Command for allegedly killing Ogwoh, was said to have buried her corpse in his apartment in Okaka community, in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.
According to the suspect: “On July 1, (2022), I came to Bayelsa to do some maintenance in my apartment because Kate (the deceased) met me in February and said that she needed a place to stay based on the fact that the person she was staying with in Lagos no longer wanted her to stay.
“So, she needed a place for about four months before going back to Lagos. So, since my younger sister, who was her friend, gave her permission to come to stay in the house, a two-bedroom apartment, I agreed that she should come. I gave her one of the rooms and I stayed in the parlour.
As we struggled, I held on to her neck too tight and she passed away. I choked her by holding on to her neck tight
“After some time, I got a job and left for Port Harcourt. Occasionally, I returned to my house to do some maintenance because it was not properly fixed. On that day (July 1) when I came, we were talking and all that. Then she told me that she wanted to go into forex trading because she knew that back in 2020, I was involved in forex.
“She told me to trade for her but I told her the best I could do for anyone was to teach the person how to trade and not trade for the person because I knew the inconveniences that came with trading for people. We moved past that after so many talks.
“One night, I was in the house when she went to her family house in Opolo. She asked for my (bank) account details and I sent them to her and she sent N50,000 to me. That was in the first week of July.
“I didn’t want to ask her what it was meant for because I had clarified that I didn’t want to trade for anyone. And she mentioned the fact that she wanted to help out in the fixing of the house because she wanted to have some guests, and I told her it was fine if he wanted to help and that I would use the money to cover the rent. She agreed.
“The next day, when I asked her what the N50,000 was for, she said she wanted me to trade for her but I told her I could not do that. As I said, the best I can do is teach someone how to trade but after so much persuasion, I agreed.
“So, I asked her what she expected monthly from it (trade) and she said she expected N20,000 monthly for five months from N50,000. But I told her no bank or financial institution could do that for her. It is not a miracle. We talked for a while and I told her to send her (bank) account details to me to return the money to her after five days. Some things came up and I could not return the money on time.”
The suspect explained that while he was having an argument with Ogwoh, she pushed him and he retaliated.
“She tried to shout for help but I knew that if she screamed for help, neighbours would rush in and support her without hearing what I had to say. They would believe her. I quickly rushed to her and tried to close her mouth to stop her from calling for help but she bit my hand, and we started struggling from the bed to the floor.
“As we struggled, I held on to her neck too tight and she passed away. I choked her by holding on to her neck tight. I did not hold her neck for up to one minute because I knew that it was a struggle that took time – from the bed to the floor, but I did not hold her neck for a minute.
“After she passed on, I walked out of the house to go clear my head because I understood what I had done. I walked out to think about what I had done and the implications of everything. As I was walking, the thought of burying her corpse came to my mind.
“So when I went back, I looked for someone around that could help me with a shovel. I borrowed one, went to the house, looked for a section of the house that looked easier to dig, dug it and placed her body there. After that, I returned the shovel and walked away. I didn’t return to the house until late at night,” he said.