A 23 year old student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, has admitted murdering a female and demanding for ramsome from mother of the deceased.
Ayomide Adeleye, a 300-level Philosophy student tried cutting his fingers with a sharp object that would make him bleed to death but, had to be stopped by vigilant security agents around.
According to the Nigerian Vanguard, the lanky black complexioned young man had not been at home for over six months, and the victim, Christiana Idowu, 18, contacted him severally in school to help fix her phone. He had been the one repairing it previously.
Mr. Adeleye is the first son of three siblings, one of whom is late. He said his father is a boat driver. He also said he attends Redeemed Christian Church of God, where he’s same member with the late Christiana
.
“I had known her for three years before the incident. She had been contacting me and I told her I would be at home at the end of the session. When I came back to Lagos, she called and came to our house around 5pm on the day of the incident and asked me to repair her phone.
“She was an Industrial Training, IT, student in Yaba College of Technology. She came with a bike. She had her bag and other things she used in school. So, when she arrived, I collected the phone from her, looked at it, and discovered that the phone only had battery problem and the screen was faulty. I just needed to put gum on the screen and change the battery.
But, she was not ready to change the battery, she just wanted to continue using the phone like that.
“I killed her because, I had financial problems. I thought of the problems and decided to strangle her, while she was busy going through my phone. Then, I called her mother, claiming she was kidnapped and should pay ransom.
“I didn’t really pounce on her. She was preoccupied with my own phone. Then, it was drizzling, and a little noisy. I just grabbed her and applied pressure. It made her struggle and she didn’t really shout because, I already suppressed her. I squeezed her throat and it made her give up.
He placed her body on a seat and took pictures of her to send to her mother.
“I didn’t send it immediately, I just left her at the shop like that. That was around 5:30 pm on Monday night. I left her on the seat and went to plan how to dispose of the body. By 11 p.m. that same night, I started to dig her grave in a small farm behind our compound. Luckily, rain fell that day, so the ground was a little soft.
“I dug using shovel. I was not able to dig deep that night. So, I postponed the digging. The body was still in the shop.
“By 4 am the following day, I got up to continue digging. I did not close my eyes till day break. I was just filled with thoughts about what I did.
“I took the body to the shallow grave only to notice that it could not be covered well. I thought of what to do next but, I was really tired of digging. I had blisters on my hand and the shovel I used had already broken.
“I l thought of chopping off her head to make it easy to bury but, I didn’t have the courage to do that. I just had to continue digging, even if the shovel broke, I continued to dig until the shallow grave could contain her. Then, I buried her. Everything happened before 5 a.m. I left the scene to contact her mother and demanded ransom”.
On how he got the mother’s number, he said it was on the daughter’s phone.
“Luckily, she did not have PIN number or pass code. I recognized her mother’s face on her profile picture. I then called and the first thing I said to her was, “Hello, madam. we have your daughter.” The next thing she said was “who be this?.” Maybe she thought it wasn’t for real.
“Then I sent a text message telling her same thing. I sent it with the picture where she was sitting on a chair. She asked me, “What do you want?” I told her, “madam, how much do you have?” I wrote everything in Pidgin. She said, “I don’t have any money. I am a single mother.
I said, “Madam, just bring anything” but, she said she didn’t have. I told her to “bring three million to release your daughter.
“I know she does not have three million naira. Even if she did not have that amount, I was ready to collect any amount because, I desperately needed money no matter the amount.
“After going back and forth with her, she said she was able to get N350, 000.00 and I gave her a sporty bet account to pay the money in order to avoid being traced. That was three days after I buried her daughter.
She sent the money there, but, I was unable to withdraw at first because, Sporty bet had this rule that once you deposit, you have to play at least a game before you can withdraw. I tried to withdraw but they locked the fund.
“Then, they asked me to present my NIN for verification. I sent it to them. They didn’t release it until three days later”l.
Again, he asked the late girl’s mother for another sum. She said the money in her account wasn’t up to N10, 000.00. He asked her to hurry up and put it together to send.
“She sent it to her daughter’s account making the whole money N360, 000.00 paid as ransom.
“After that, I stopped all communication with the mother. But, before they sent the money, they were telling me that they wanted to actually see a video or voice confirmation of the girl but the girl was no more. It was only that picture I took that I was able to send.
“So, I just kept on pushing them. I used the money to take care of my personal and family financial problems”.
His arrest
“It was not the police, I was picked up by soldiers. They told me it was through my Sporty bet account because, I uploaded my NIN so it was traced.
“If I had not uploaded my NIN, it would just be an empty account. But the moment I uploaded my NIN, all my personal details, my location, my address, my name, everything, was already on the sporty bet. The girl’s phone was also with me, they could have traced the location of the phone, that was how they got my location.
“Before I was arrested, Christiana was somebody that I had known for over three years, and we were close friends. I regret killing her because, my mum and hers were friends”.
Have you ever had any mental issues that landed you in the hospital?
“I wouldn’t say that it landed me in the hospital, but I am always alone. I don’t like associating with anybody”.
What was the last word she said before you took her life?
“She was focusing on the TikTok video. She did not say anything. In fact, when that incident happened, my cell phone dropped from her hand”.
Now, what do you want to be done to you?
“I don’t deserve any mercy for what I have done. At the same time, I ask God to forgive me. What I did was totally wrong and I regret it. I feel remorseful for what I have done.
If there’s any way I could be given a second chance, I want to be given one but, I deserve death, honestly.
I have been planning to kill myself. While I was in the guard room, I tried to look for any sharp object to cut myself so that I would bleed to death”.