A former deacon in Umuahia has confessed to strangling to death a 45-year old housewife in Umuahia.
In a confessional video played in an Umuahia High Court, presided over by Justice Uchechi Enwereji, the suspect, Mr Salem Chukwunyere, who described himself as a plumber, confessed to killing the woman, by using a sponge to strangle her inside her house in Umuahia, stating that he had come to solicit financial assistance from the woman on the day he killed her.
The suspect in the video said that he met the victim alone in her house before committing the crime, stating, “I visited Virginia Nkemdirim Ndife. I used to work for her as a plumber for over six months. I came to ask her for money for my school fees. I owed some people at the Theological Seminary School at Amumara Mbaise.
“I asked her to give me some money and she said she had no money, but I said it is not true, but that there is money in the house. I came into the house through the kitchen. I entered into the other room and she decided to give the money, but I decided to follow her to the room where she found the money.”
The suspect further confessed to wearing frowned face added the victim said “she said she was not expecting me, and I said, yes, I have come to taste your money. She laughed and seeing me as not laughing, she picked the money and handed it over to me. I insisted that there is more money in the house.”
He added that Madam Ndife then informed him that her family will know he was in the house, stating, “I saw a sponge, tied her across her eyes and neck as she was gasping for breath. I now searched the entire house.”
Chukwunyere in the video also confessed murdering another victim, one Chioma Nwoke in Obinze, Imo State.
An official of the Department of State Services who played the video inside the court room, had told the court that the alleged confession was voluntarily made by the suspect in DSS office after his arrest, pointing out that it was not made under duress.
However, following arguments by the counsel to the defendant, Adimchinaka Udochukwu Ngumoha, over the authentication and certification of the video to make it admissible, the presiding judge, Justice Enwereji advised the counsel to the defendant to raise his objection during his presentation of his written address and adjourned the case to July 3, 2024 for continuation of hearing.
The widower of Mrs Ndife, Mr Christian Ndife, after the court session, said, “I am pleading with government at all levels to ensure that justice prevails. I need justice, my wife’s life matter, and she should get justice.”
