Nigeria, Rivers State ritual killing: University undergraduate, accomplice to die by hanging

A gruesome murder; a gruesome verdict. 

Warning: the article below contains graphic details which may shock the reader (webmaster FVDK).

Rivers Ritual Killing: University Undergraduate, Accomplice to Die by Hanging

Published: May 14, 2020
By: This Day (Nigeria)

Justice Adolphus Enebeli of the Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, has sentenced one Ifeanyi Maxwell Dike to death by hanging for the killing of an eight-year-old Victory Chikamso, a female for ritual purposes in 2017.

Also sentenced to death alongside Dike is one Ugochukwu Nwamairo, his accomplice who reportedly requested for the supply of the human body parts for money ritual.

Also, an ex-police sergeant who allegedly aided Dike’s escape from prison at night after his detention, Johnbosco Okoronze got one year imprisonment, for aiding and abating escape of the murderer.

Dike, a 200-level Physics student of the University of Port Harcourt, (UNIPORT), on August 18, 2017 allegedly strangled his victim who was also his niece and primary two pupil of a private school in Port Harcourt.

Dike perpetrated the act in his (Dike’s) room at Eliozu community, in Obio/Akpor Local Government of the state, where he also removed the vital parts of her body.

Chikamso’s body parts such as, breast, private part, fingers, ear, heart, eyelid, among others, were discovered missing when the remains were found with Dike.

He was on his way to the community central crash bin at midnight to dispose of what was left of the body of the child when he was apprehended by men of the community vigilante and was handed over to the police.

The duo, Dike and Nwamiro were found guilty of the two-count charge of conspiracy and murder levelled against them.

Sentencing them, Justice Enebeli pronounced that Dike should be hanged on his neck until he dies, while Nwamiro should be hanged on his leg until he dies (upside down).

The court explained that it decided to sentence the ex-police sergeant to just one year jail term because he has already served two years in prison from the time he was arrested, adding also that he has been dismissed from police force, since the case began.

He noted that Nwamairo’s conviction and sentence was based on Dike’s evidence-in-chief and voluntary confession/ statement on four different occasions that, the second defendant (Nwamairo), had requested the body parts of a little girl, including the heart for financial independence.

The court ruled that the prosecution proved his case beyond reasonable doubts, insisting that counsel to Dike, Lezina Amegwa “in his written address did not deny the fact that his client committed the murder but said he was not in his right frame of mind when he committed the act, meaning that he was mentally deranged and insane.”

The court verdict caused panic and serious outburst among Nwamairo’s family members who were present when the judgment was delivered.

His wife collapsed and was carried away by other members of the family present while one of the brothers, was noticed shouting on top of his voice, insisting that the brother was innocent of the crime, adding that the judgment was wrong and would be appealed as they cried profusely.

Speaking to journalists shortly, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Chidi Eke, described the judgment as landmark, adding that “it has brought about justice for the state, the family of late Victory Chikamso and the soul of the departed.”

However, counsel to Nwamiro, Mr. John Ndah expressed displeasure over the judgment and assured that it would be appealed.

As for Dike and his lawyer, Amegwa, it is all over with the case.

“We may not appeal the matter because of the circumstances in the judgment,” they concluded.

Source: Rivers Ritual Killing: University Undergraduate, Accomplice to Die by Hanging

It would be recalled that Dike escaped from police custody, using the darkness of the night to run away from the cell of the State criminal investigation Department, the night he was arrested and was re-arrested in Jos, Plateau state, two weeks after.
Source: 
Undergraduate, accomplice to die by hanging in Rivers (The Nation, May 13, 2020)

Nigeria: police hold suspect after 8 women killed in hotels in Port Harcourt

On September 16, 2019 I posted an article on a wave of allegedly ritualistic murders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and a protest demonstration of (mainly) women who felt threatened and insecure. There seems to be good news: a suspect has been arrested. The article presented below makes it clear that we are dealing here not with a case of ritual murders in the traditional sense, but with rituals performed by a serial killer, a maniac, who meanwhile confessed being guilty of at least seven murders. 

The objectives of this website is not to expose crimes committed by disturbed people, maniacs, but what matters is the link with superstition: the belief that committing a ritualistic murder and using body parts to make ‘juju’ or ‘muti’ are instrumental in increasing one’s wealth, prestige or power. 

Since I want to inform the readers of this site as correct and objective as possible, I post here the article concerned on the arrest of a suspect and the (likely) real character of the murders of which he is being accused. 
(webmaster FVDK).

Published: September 18, 2019
By: New24, AFP

Nigerian police investigating the murders of at least eight women lured to hotels in the southern city of Port Harcourt said they had arrested a suspect.

Five deaths in the last month have sparked fears of “serial killings” targetting suspected sex workers, and a wave of protests by women activists in the city, the capital of oil-rich Rivers State.

Officers have arrested a suspect who had made “useful confessions” and they were pursuing other accomplices, Rivers State police commissioner Mustapha Dandaura said in a statement late Tuesday.

They suspected the murders were for ritual practices, he added.

“After the killings, a white cloth material is rolled on the victims’ necks or waists. So, there is an element of cultism in all the killings in the hotels that have taken place,” Dandaura said.

“The serial killer normally drugs his victims and thereafter, he strangles them,” he added.

Although local reports suggested more than 10 women had been killed, Dandaura said they had only eight verifiable cases, with the first of the victims murdered in July.

In recent days, women took to the streets of Port Hartcourt in a series of protests calling for better police protection.

Outrage at the killings and the police response spilled over on to social media after police told protestors that women should abandon prostitution to avoid being targetted.

“We must go back to try to educate them (women) and discourage them from going into prostitution because that is how they fall victim to these crimes,” deputy commissioner of police, Chuks Enwonwu told demonstrators, according to local reports.

Protesters and activists condemned the police response, saying all women were vulnerable to the rising attacks.

Prostitution is illegal in Nigeria, and police have enforced restrictions on hotels in the city, forcing hotel owners to install closed-circuit cameras to monitor activity or face closure.

Source: Nigerian police hold suspect after 8 women killed in hotels 

Nigeria: ritual killings of women in hotels in Port Harcourt?

Freedom from fear.

Ritualistic murders and alleged ritual killings are not only a violation of the law. They scare people. In many sub-Saharan African countries people fear what might never happen, but their fear is real. Too often they hear of children and adults who disappeared only to be found back ‘with several parts missing’. Reporting on alleged or real ritual murders is erratic. Not all cases are reported and very often we don’t hear what happened to the victims and their families – and the perpetrators. Even when caught and arrested, its is relatively rare to read reports about their trial, and subsequent sentencing when found guilty.

In Port Harcourt. Rivers State, Nigeria, a group of women took to the streets and demanded more protection of women and urged the police to take more measures to stop the recent wave of alleged ritualistic murders by one or more serial killers.
(webmaster FVDK)

PS Read my September 21, 2019 posting for further developments. 

Published: September 14, 2019
By: The Sun (Nigeria)

Irked by the ugly pattern of supposed ritual killings of women in hotels in Port Harcourt, a body known as Rivers Female Youths yesterday, on a protest, took their grievance to the state police command, demanding stronger measures to protect women. The youths, who displayed placards with different inscriptions, decried what they see as the deliberate targeting of women by suspected serial killers operating in the state.  Some of the placards read: “Hotel owners must be accountable and be responsible for their guests”, “She could be your sister, daughter, wife or friend” and “There is no life without women.”

Convener of the protest, Soibi Ibibo Jack, said that the female youths were at the state police command to demand stronger measures by the police to apprehend the killers. She said once apprehended, the killer must be made to face the full weight of the law, irrespective of his/her political or social status.

“There is a serial killer on the loose in Rivers State,” she insists. “We want to go out and return home without fear. We acknowledge the police for what they are doing, but we urge them to do more so that the killer is arrested, tried and made to face the full weight of the law.”

In her remarks, a protester, Cecilia Dikibo, urged the police to deploy more resources to ensure the safety of women in Port Harcourt. Also speaking, Peace Pepple from Opobo-Nkoro added that as the police works to secure women, there is the need for everyone to be careful. Bidemi Edward-Odoi suggested that the arrest and strict interrogation of affected hotel managers would help to compel others to take the security of their hotels seriously.

Source: Rivers female youths protest killing of women in hotels