Crime Reports learnt that Okoh, a vehicle spare parts trader, was allegedly murdered by Kingsley at about 1:00a.m on August 4, two days after his arrival in Warri.
On getting to Warri, Lawrence was said to have being picked by Kingsley at 8pm who took him to his family house at Ovwian area of Warri where he slept and eventually met his death.
That was the last time his wife and friend heard from him as he became unreachable after that.
The deceased brothers left Ibadan, Oyo State for Warri on Monday, August 8 when they couldn’t communicate with Lawrence. They went to Warri Area Commander and narrated what happened, they were given a team which started work immediately.
The detectives were able to locate Kingsley’s residence and they arrested him.
During police investigation, Kingsley confessed that he broke his SIM card when he was being pestered with frequent calls from Lawrence’s family. When asked of the deceased whereabouts, he said Lawrence left his house in annoyance when he told him that the goods he brought were not genuine parts.
The Area Commander and some police detectives were able to get a confession from Kingsley saying Lawrence was dead. When asked how he died, he confessed that he and one other man, Kennedy (surname withheld) killed him.
“He said they killed him by smashing a bottle on his head. He spoke further that his victim could not cry for help because he was weak by then. He did not disclose what he did to render him weak. He said after the killing, they buried Lawrence at the backyard of the building beside his house, and that his partner in crime fled to Ghana afterwards.
Crime Reports learnt that the goods the deceased took to Warri were worth N1.6 million. Okoh was said to have known Kingsley about eight years before his brutal killing and had supplied him spare parts while the latter was in Lagos State and the former resided in Ibadan.
It was gathered that the exhumation of Lawrence’s remains was carried out last Wednesday and the deceased’s body was discovered to have decomposed. The remains which were mainly bones with bits of rotten flesh were covered with faeces as the suspects were reported to have buried him in a shallow grave on a dump site face down.
At the burial site, Kingsley was reported to have begged the police to loosen his handcuff so that he could help in the exhumation. He was quoted to have said that he wanted to use the opportunity to seek forgiveness from his victim. He reportedly said that he could see the spirit of the deceased in the midst of the people. At a point, Kingsley cried: “Lawrence, forgive me o.”
When asked what Lawrence did to be killed, Kingsley replied that he did nothing, saying that it was the devil that pushed him to do evil. He said his initial denial was as a result of fear.
The deceased, who had been married for years without children until his wife delivered twins, a boy and a girl, in 2015, was said to have graduated from the University of Ibadan and had Master’s degree.
The deceased’s brother also told Crime Reports that Lawrence had resided in Ibadan and had a spare parts shop at Agodi Gate area, but also had another in Port Harcourt.
He told Crime Reports that the deceased’s remains were immediately gathered in a cellophane bag and put in a casket, after which they were taken to the deceased’s family quarters at Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha West Local Government Area of Delta State for burial immediately after exhumation.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Delta State Police Command, SP Celestina Kalu, confirmed Kingsley’s arrest, saying that efforts were on to arrest the second suspect at large. She added that the suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department in Asaba for further investigations. Tribune
0 Comments