Latest posts of: Sylvia Nkiru (Items From 80)

70-year-old woman
killed, buried in her
yam barn
• Police accuse two sons
• No, you tortured us into
submission –Suspects
From IJEOMA ONUORAH,
Nnewi
Saturday, August 06,
2011
As the police, in the
Criminal Investigative
Department, Awka,
Anambra State, paraded
two brothers, Obinna and
Ebuka Ndubuisi, for
allegedly killing their step-
mother, Mrs. Virginia
Ndubuisi, on Wednesday
a mild drama ensued: The
duo said they agreed to
the allegation due to
unbearable police torture.
“I don’t know who killed
Mama, but it is not my
brother nor me. I only
admitted to the crime
because I was beaten out
of my senses,” Ebuka
maintained.
The police, however, said
the suspects are
economical with the truth,
adding that they are
known jailbirds.
Obinna, 26, and Ebuka,
25, are in the police net for
allegedly strangulating
their step-mother fondly
called Mama Virginia, who
had been taking care of
them when their biological
mother died 23 years ago.
According to the police,
about two months ago,
Mrs. Ndubuisi, a 70-year-
old woman from Akpo
town, in Aguata Local
Government Area of the
state, was reported
missing by one of her
sons.
The police told newsmen
that initially, the family had
reported, at to the nearby
Umuchu Police Station,
that their mother was
missing, but after some
preliminary investigations,
the two brothers were
arrested, as the police said
that Ebuka was with their
Mama, in the house,
before she was reported
missing.
The police said that early
morning before Obinna
left for work, he had
instructed Ebuka to cook
blood used in feeding the
domestic pigs in the
house, but when he came
back, he discovered that
his younger brother did
not cook the blood.
“When he asked Ebuka
where their step-mother
was, he received no
answers. Brows were
raised soon after Ebuka
suddenly packed his
clothing and left the
house. His none replies
and the vanishing act,
only turned his family’s
suspicion on him,” the
police said.
Narrating how the police
made the breakthrough in
the case, the Assistant
Commissioner of Police,
in-charge of the Criminal
Investigative Department,
Mr. Mike Okoli, disclosed
that originally the duo
were transferred to the
state CID, Awka on
allegation of the
disappearance or kidnap
of the deceased. He,
however, said that after
further investigations they
decided to release the
elder brother, Obinna, as
a ploy to get out the truth
from them.
He said: “When we
discovered that many of
their so-called facts did
not tally together, we
decided to send Obinna
home, who I had lesser
suspicion on. This left
Ebuka vulnerable, as he
came to bear the heat of
the situation alone.
Meanwhile, Obinna’s
conscience started
pricking him through
nightmares. One day, he
called his elder step-
brother, Jude, and told
him that he had a dream
that Mama Virginia was
buried somewhere in her
yam barn.
“The family went into the
barn and discovered that
the woman was buried in
a shallow grave inside the
yam barn. We now went
in with police detectives
and discovered that,
indeed, the woman had
been buried inside her
barn for some time. At
this discovery, the police
re-arrested Obinna, and
that was when Ebuka
broke down and admitted
to the crime.”
The police said that after
Ebuka allegedly admitted
to have solely
strangulated his step-
mother, he confessed to
them that he committed
the murder because one
of woman’s sons, Engr.
Ogochukwu, a successful
businessman in Abuja,
refused to assist him
financially in order to
facilitate the release of his
new hip-hop album.
According to the police,
pathologists exhumed the
body of the late Mrs.
Ndubuisi and the autopsy
reports showed that the
murder could not have
been committed by one
person alone. The police
said that the report
showed that the old
woman must have been
hit hard on the head with
a strong object to
immobilise her before her
neck was twisted. The
autopsy showed the date
of her death and burial to
be about two months
ago.
The police also said that
further investigations
revealed some blood
stains in Mama Virginia ’s
room, which suggested
that she must have been
struck down before the
strangulation and
subsequent burial.
When Daily Sun spoke
with the suspects, Ebuka,
who describes himself as
an upcoming musician,
absolved his elder
brother, Obinna, of any
knowledge of the crime.
He also said that he would
not have admitted to the
crimes if the police had
not manhandled and
tortured him.
“I don’t know who killed
Mama, but it is not my
brother or I. I only
admitted to the crime
because I was beaten out
of my senses,” Ebuka
maintained.
When he was asked why
he took all the blame and
if their step-mother
maltreated them as
children, Ebuka said that
the woman was
sometimes harsh on him,
though he never had any
cruel intentions towards
her, but insisted that he
did not want to involve
his brother in “what he
doesn’t know” about.
Similarly, Obinna, who is
a mason and married
with a three-week-old
baby, denied their
colluding to kill their
mother, saying that the
woman never gave him
cause to dislike her, as she
treated all her seven sons
equally.
“They said my brother
and I did it. On that fateful
day, I asked my brother
to cook the blood used in
feeding the pigs before I
left for work. I know that
my hands are clean,
Mama did not maltreat
me. She treated us like her
five other blood sons,
why would I want to kill
her?” he queried.
The brothers, who
lamented that because of
poverty none of them
went to school, said that
their status in life would
have been entirely
different if they were
educated.
However, ACP Okoli,
disclosed that the brothers
would soon be arraigned
in court for conspiracy
and murder, warning
intending criminals to
detest from their evil acts
as they must surely be
caught one day.