The trial of alleged murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga continued on Monday as the ninth prosecution witness, a police officer testified before the Lagos High Court sitting in Tafawa Balewa Square.
DSP Olusegun Bamidele, serving with the homicide department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Yaba, in his testimony narrated how a university undergraduate, Chidinma Ojukwu, charged with the murder of Ataga, was tracked through her phone.
While answering questions from the Lagos State’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, Adenike Oluwafemi, the police officer said that the Intelligence and Tactical Unit of the SCID tracked Ojukwu down at No. 57, Akinwunmi St., Alagomeji, Yaba.
The police officer first narrated how the case was transferred from Maroko police station to his own department at SCID Yaba.
He said the case was transferred and assigned to his team on June 17, 2021, with a suspect, one Nkechi Mogbo, the owner of the apartment where the incident occurred.
The witness said that the investigating police officer (IPO) from the Maroko police station explained to him, how a complaint about a body with a mark of violence was brought to their station.
Bamidele said that the IPO from Maroko also informed him that he took pictures and made video recordings which were transferred into his Infinix Hot 4, smartphone.
The witness narrated that after receiving the complaint from the Maroko IPO, he visited the scene of the crime alongside the IPO and Mogbo, the owner of the place.
“We met the security guard who took us into the apartment and I observed that there were bloodstains on the floor, the bed was ruffled with bloodstains on the pillow and the duvet,” he said.
“The IPO also took me to Yaba general hospital mortuary, to see the body and I observed that there were stab wounds on the deceased body, including injury on his head and knees. I also saw that the two wrists had marks indicating that they were tied.”
The witness said that when he interacted with Mogbo, she informed him that on June 13, a phone call came from one Jewel, who requested for a room at her short service apartment.
He also said that the security guard at the apartment also told him how the body of the deceased was discovered at the apartment where the said Jewel lodged with the deceased.
Bamidele also said that the security guard at the apartment gave him a phone number which the said Jewel had used in calling him while at the apartment.
He added, “After getting the information from the security guard, we engaged a tracking team. The trackers with the intelligent and tactical unit, tracked one Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu, down, at No. 57, Akinwunmi St., Alagomeji Yaba.”
The witness also told the court that the statements of the owner of the apartment and the security guard were all taken and he identified the statements which were already in court as exhibits.
He also said that the pictures and videos in his phone were downloaded into a disc by an information technology expert in his office.
At this point, the prosecutor asked for an adjournment to enable the prosecution team to bring the videos for viewing and to tender it as evidence before the court.
Before the testimony of the police officer, an Access Bank account officer, Mr Toafeek Lawal, gave evidence as the eighth witness.
He gave evidence on the Naira account statements of the deceased starting from April 1, 2021 to August 31, 2021.
He said that there were, however, no transactions on the account from June 19 to August 31.
He also said that immediately after the bank learned of the death of Usifo Ataga, it placed a Post No Debit (POD) on the account to stop any debit from being effected on the account.
He also mentioned that the deceased operated two accounts with the bank which were a Naira account and a Domiciliary account.
The witness was cross-examined by the first defendant’s counsel, Mr Onwuka Egwu.
Egwu asked the witness to confirm that in a USSD mode of transfer, “the password is exclusive to the owner of the account”
The witness answered that the password was meant to be exclusive unless the owner decided otherwise.
Egwu also asked the witness to confirm how many payments were made to the first defendant, Chidinma during the period the statement covered.
The witness answered that it was only once.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya has adjourned the case until May 10 for the continuation of trial.
