The life of a young man, Charles Bankole Orisanya from Akoko in Ondo
State, who was working with Halliburton in Rivers State ended sadly and
brutally on September 19, 2014 when his 26-year-old girlfriend, Loretta
Odikagbo, snuffed life out of him. She was however apprehended almost
three months after, precisely December 9, 2014 after a painstaking
investigation by the Homicide Section of the Rivers State Police
Command.
Senior police officers who investigated the case said
that the method of killing was an uncommon one in Nigeria, as Miss
Odikagbo, popularly called Loretta, and two accomplices allegedly
tapered late Orisanya’s mouth, hands and legs before covering his head
with a polythene bag. Loretta was said to have sat on the deceased’s
head while one of the accomplices, Ime Francis Moses Jnr., held his neck
until he became lifeless.
According to information gathered by Crime
Reports, Loretta Odikagbo, a student of Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori,
met Orisanya on Badoo network and they started dating online. They
connected physically and the relationship blossomed over the next
months. Along the line, Loretta fell out of love with her lover. And the
reason she gave was that her lover boy was not fulfilling his promises.
The deceased, who was in his early 30s, was a civil engineer and a
staff of Halliburton Company at Trans-Amadi area of Port Harcourt, it
was learnt.
On September 19, 2014, the lover invited the lady to
his house but she did not come alone. Crime Reports learnt that she
hired two men to go with her and hid them under the staircase of the
lover’s residence.
In order not to arouse any suspicion, Loretta
released herself totally to her lover and engaged in a passionate love
making session with him. After the man cl!maxed, he rolled off and got
ready for sleep. The lady was said to have quietly opened the door to
let the two accomplices in. Pointing a gun-like object at Bankole,
Loretta and the boys used a rope and masking tape to tie his hands and
legs.
Satisfied that she had dealt with her lover, Loretta left
for an Automated Teller Machine to collect all the cash in Bankole’s
account. Of course, she had earlier collected the secret pin from him
under duress. Not done, the lady was said to have returned and had gone
to her lover’s kitchen to pick a polythene bag to cover his head after
taping his mouth, and sat on his head. One of the accomplices, Moses,
held the man’s neck until he gave up the ghost. The two men also took
their victim’s shirts, shoes and other personal items while Loretta went
for his LG phone and laptop.
When the case was reported at a
police station, it was learnt that there was no single clue that could
be used to trail the killers. But when the case was transferred to
Department of Criminal Investigation, Rivers State Police Command, the
crack detectives investigating the case were able to resolve the mystery
as they worked on an item picked from the scene crime. This eventually
led to Loretta’s arrest and, subsequently, Moses’, while the third
suspect is still at large.
In an interview with Loretta, she
claimed that she decided to deal with late Orisanya because he was not
fulfilling all his promises to her. Her narration went thus: “I am from
Rumuomasi, Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State. I was born
on May 2, 1988. I hold a Diploma in Mass Communication and was to resume
for my HND in January 2015 but I was arrested in December 2014.
“I
asked a friend, Moses to help harass a man who was my boyfriend but is
now deceased. I met Bankole (Orisanya) through a social network called
Badoo in January 2014 and we got intimate online since he was at the rig
offshore when we met. He was there for two months and we became
internet lovers. We were chatting and exchanging pictures. When he came
back, he invited me over and we started dating.
“The basis of it
all was money. When I met him, it was all promises upon promises. Along
the line, the s*x was going on and the money was not coming. He would
give me N10,000, N15,000 but that was not what I expected from him. Also
when we first met, to me, he was a single man but along the line, I
discovered he was married.
“We talked about it but he didn’t want
the affair to end. He said that it would not be a problem and he could
handle it. But I only continued with him because I was waiting for the
promises to be fulfilled. I was not interested in marriage to him. We
had a bit of misunderstanding concerning money and our relationship. I
asked my friend who is also my in-law to help me so that I could get the
money forcefully from Bankole.
“Along the line, I could not
control my anger so I asked my in-law to come help harass him to get
what I could get from him and move on with my life.
“On a
particular night, he called me and I went to his place with my in-law
and one other guy. I felt it was an opportunity to deal with him. We
went to his residence and I managed to sneak the two men into the
compound. I hid them under the stairs. I went in to Bankole and we made
love. After we were done, I left him in the bedroom and went to the
kitchen as if I wanted to drink water, and let the guys in. I made it
look like both of us were being robbed. We met Bankole in the sitting
room; probably trying to know what kept me away for long.
“There
was no light. I didn’t see any gun. My in-law was holding a tape while
the other guy held a torch and something that looked like a gun. Bankole
and I went on our knees and the guys were threatening us, asking for
money. My lover told them that he had money in his account so he gave
them his ATM card pin number.
“My-in law tied his hands with the
tape and second guy acted like I had to be the one to follow him to the
ATM. It was raining heavily that night. It was almost midnight. We left
for the ATM and I withdrew a little over N120,000 and paid the guy off. I
gave him about N30,000 or thereabouts. My in-law came to meet me at the
ATM and I also gave him almost N50,000.
“I took Bankole’s LG
phone while his laptop was brought to me the following day by my in-law.
I can’t remember what the other guy took from Bankole’s house. I didn’t
know anything about the polythene that was used to cover his head.”
Loretta
said she did not bother to go back to Orisanya’s house so did not know
that he died. “I didn’t have the intention of dating him anymore; I just
wanted to move on. I only knew about Bankole’s death when I was
arrested.”
Moses (30), who said he hails from Akwa Ibom State,
however gave a contrary narration to Loretta’s. According to him,
“Loretta called me and said that she and her boyfriend were having some
issues. She said he was owing her some money and had refused to ‘settle’
her. She said she would call me to go and harass him promising to
notify me whenever he called her. Before then she gave me some money to
buy a torchlight, which I did.
“On a day, she called me and came
to meet me. We went to Rumuomasi to pick another guy called Winkoro. He
refused being part of the plan and we left him. As we walked, we saw a
boy whom I knew but don’t know his name. I introduced him to her and she
explained her intention to him and he joined us.
“She took us to the
man’s house and kept us under the staircase. Earlier, she gave the
other guy a rope and masking tape and I was with a torch light and an
iron object that looked like a gun. After a while, she called us in and
we got into the kitchen. Minutes later, according to her instruction, we
got into the room where she was with her boyfriend.
“I pointed
the torch at the man and said: “Na you dey owe our sister and you no wan
pay”. The lover boy pleaded that he was going to pay; that we should
calm down. The guy with us tied the man’s legs with a rope and tapered
his hands. Loretta stood up and slapped the man repeatedly. After that
she asked the man of money but he said he had no money at home. He
pointed at his ATM cards and gave Loretta the pin number.
“She
and the other guy left for the ATM and I stayed with our victim. I later
called her to confirm if the pin was right and she said yes. I asked if
I should start coming but she asked me to wait at the man’s house.
Before she left, she and the other guy packed some items like laptop,
phone. When she came back, she went to the man’s room.
“She came
out, went to the kitchen, brought a polythene bag and said that if I did
not assist her in killing the man, if the bubble burst, I would be the
first person she would mention. She covered the man’s head with the
polythene bag and sat on his head while I assisted her in holding the
man’s neck until he became motionless.
“Loretta gave me N28,000. I
was arrested on December 10, 2014. She was the one who led the police
to me. I took three shirts and a sandal from the man’s house. Taking the
man’s life was not in the initial plan.”
On the relationship between
them, Moses said that he and Loretta used to drink alcohol together
while she was also a chain smoker. Loretta confirmed this and added that
she used to smoke marijuana.
Moses also revealed that a case
akin to the current one occurred three years ago. “Loretta had a man she
was going out with. They had some problems and because Loretta had the
man’s spare key, she gave it to me and asked me to go and pack the man’s
things and her own too, so that it would look like robbery. The man got
her arrested and I was also picked. We returned the things to the man,”
Moses disclosed. Again, Loretta confirmed this and said that the man
was a staff of Shell.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer in Rivers State, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, confirmed the story, saying
that the case was still under investigation at the Department of
Criminal Investigation.