Operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have arrested a 31-year-old man identified as Edeh Tochukwu, who killed his lover, 48-year-old Ijeoma Felix in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The suspect, who was paraded at the IRT Office in Abuja on Tuesday, confessed to having hit the victim with a pestle during an allegedly violent argument at her two-bedroom residence in the Lugbe area of the FCT on October 24.
He claimed that their relationship began to deteriorate when she started to question his every move.
”Whenever anyone calls me on the phone, she was always angry. I couldn’t express myself. I can’t stay on the phone for more than five minutes. She will pick offence. She will insult me”
Recounting what transpired on October 24, Edeh said he had an argument with the deceased over a Highlander car she gave to him, which he had sold without her consent. He claims the argument turned violent .
”When I came around, the argument started all over again about the car. It was at this point that she raised her voice. She started insulting and everything. She went to the sitting room, dropped her home theater on me which I still defended. She was back with the pestle the second time, it was really unintentional because I was angry and all that…I snatched it away from her and shoved her with it. When she was coming up, involuntarily I hit her with the pestle..That was when she fell down and started crying and saying why did I hit her”he said
Edeh stated that after hitting her, he took the Toyota Camry belonging to the deceased, along with her phone and some other belongings before leaving the house. He added that he was arrested on November 2 after changing the car documents of the Camry and selling it for N1.7 million.
Recounting his version of the events that led to Ijeoma’s death, he told journalists both he and Ijeoma had an argument over a Toyota Highlander she had given him, which he sold without her consent.
The suspect said he met the deceased in a Facebook group in 2020, adding that their relationship started on a good note, which led to him moving into her apartment. He claimed that the relationship turned abusive with him being the victim.
The victim’s elder sister told journalists how she learnt of the death of her sister, Ijeoma Felix after her gruesome killing on October 24 at her residence.
She stated that she received a call from the caretaker of the property where her late sister’s apartment resided, informing her that Ijeoma had not been seen for days and that she might be seriously ill. Upon her arrival at the residence, she said there was a foul odour but that her car was nowhere in sight.
After learning that a report had been made at Lugbe Police Station, she went there but was asked to return the following day as the investigating police officer (IPO) was not on duty.
“The next day, we went there (Lugbe Police Station). Then we were able to meet the IPO. They had already made arrangements for the environmental (agency). We were even at that police station when the environmental people came. All of us went to the compound.
“They went in; they brought out my sister, wrapped in her centre rug. She was smelling already. That means the smell I was perceiving (the day before) was my sister. She had been there for days, smelling! That was how we took her to Gwagwalada Hospital and deposited the body.
“The car was not there. The telly was not there. The phones were not there. But you could see the charging things there. And they told me that the guy in question was the last person that came that Monday (to her apartment) and they didn’t see when he left and the car had not been there since he left,” she said, adding that the family wants justice.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the arrest of the suspect followed the directive of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba to fish out the culprit and to ensure no stone is left unturned in dealing with criminal elements.
Adejobi stated that the investigation is still ongoing and warned the public to be cautious about their activities on social media.
