The Inspector -General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) has arrested a houseboy for allegedly killing his master, a naval officer, Lieutenant Abubakar Yusuf, and his girlfriend, Lorraine Onye, in Rivers State.
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The suspect, Raphael Jaja, a native of the Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area, Rivers State, said he killed the lovers because his boss allegedly refused to pay his 15 months’ salary.
According to him, his boss also, owed him another proceed from a business transaction they did together, but could afford to buy an expensive phone for the girlfriend and pay N300,000 rent for her.
A senior police officer told Cornerstone news that it was reported that the naval officer killed his girlfriend and took to his heels until DCP Abba Kyari stepped into the investigation and unraveled the mystery.
The officer said Kyari tracked Yusuf’s mobile phone to Jaja’s friend in Port Harcourt who bought the phone from Jaja and arrested him.
He said after interrogation, he led the operatives to arrest the killer house help who owned up to the murder of the naval officer and his girlfriend.
The officer said:” The suspect Jaja killed the lovers in most horrific manner. He strangulated the girl, a 300 level University student and a lieutenant in the Navy. Jaja, set the man ablaze, sold his car and used his ATM to withdrew money from the deceased bank account in Lagos, to divert attention. He equally sent a text message to the girl’s phone with the lieutenant phone.
As the body of the lieutenant was not discovered, people had already concluded that she was murdered by her lover. It really took cutting edged technology to unravel how the murders were executed “.
The suspect told Cornerstone news that he would not have entered into the mess if Yusuf had not persuaded him to start living with him: “I did not know him from Adams, Someone told him I could fix his DSTV for him. After fixing it for him, he said I should start living with so that I should help him to do some works.H e gave me the spare key to his apartment and I started living with him.
He promised to pay me N15,000 monthly and that he would pay all my money before my marriage slated for December 2017.
“Trouble started when he met his girlfriend sometime in 2017. Whenever she passed the night at the apartment, the lieutenant would ask me to sleep in a store in the compound. Well, outside from the monthly salary, helped my master to execute two contracts worth N22.8m in September 2017 and he promised to give him a share of N2.5m. He said for ethical reasons, he did not use his name to secure the contracts, which involved the supply of computers to technical schools.
“While I was preparing for my wedding, I asked him to give me N400,000; he said he had no money. I eventually borrowed N320,000 to do the wedding. In January 2018, I went back to him to ask for my money. He said he did not have money and that I was disturbing him. I stopped going to the barracks. In March 2018, he called me several times, but I did not pick his calls. When I later picked, he said he had a job for me. On getting to his office, he said he had given it to somebody else because I didn’t come on time. He laughed at me.
“I went to the barracks to help one of his colleagues fix a DSTV. On my way back home, Lieutenant Yusuf called me to help him take his decoder to the DSTV office for a reset. He gave me N1,000 transport fare. When I came back, he asked me to service his generator. When I finished, he gave me N1,000. I told him the money was small and that he was being unfair to me. I asked him to give me some money so that I could establish my own business to take care of my family. He said he did not send me to go and marry.
“The following day, he called me that the generator was not working again. He told me to buy N1,000 oil on my way to the barracks. After I fixed the generator, I asked him for payment, but he said he had given me N1,000 the previous day. I told him I collected the N1,000 because he was my boss.
“I asked for the money he was owing me again; he said he had no money and that I was disturbing him. He said he was also planning his wedding. He said he did not send me to marry and that I should carry my cross. I went back to him the next day for the money. He asked me to help him prepare noodles. There was a drug, Tanlin, in my pocket.
I bought it because of a dog that my neighbor, who just packed out, left behind. The dog was disturbing me and I wanted to give it the drug so that it would sleep off. I put a little of the drug in the noodles. I discovered the drug did not have any effect on him.
“On May 3, I went back to his house. I met only his girlfriend at home. We did not like each other, but I decided to be friendly with her that day. I asked her to tell me about her relationship with my boss. She was initially reluctant until I assured her I meant no harm. She told me that she and my boss were supposed to travel to Canada in 2017, but they couldn’t make it. She said he bought a phone for her and gave her N300,000 to rent a house.
“I was annoyed as she was saying all these. I asked her if she knew my boss’ phone password; she said she did not know it. I persuaded her to tell me his ATM card password and she did. I pretended that I admired her hairstyle and told her to turn her back. The moment she did so, I held her neck and strangled her. She was foaming. She died afterward. I hid her corpse somewhere in the room and covered it with clothes.
“ well, Yusuf finally returned home and went straight to the bed. He was so tired and he did not suspect anything or had a premonition that something was going to hit him. As he was sleeping, I used a kitchen knife to stab him.I stabbed him several times and he died. I packed his corpse in a bag and kept it in the boot of his car parked on the premises. I cleaned the bloodstains on the floor, wore his uniform and drove the car out of the barracks. I drove the car to a village called Apani and dropped his body in a bush. I looked for a tire and set his corpse ablaze. I burnt it so that nobody would be able to trace him.
“Still in the uniform, I drove the car to Benin, Edo State, where I sold it to one Alhaji. He bought the car N1.9m, but he was to pay me a balance of N120,000 before I was arrested through a church member I exchanged my boss’ phone within Port Harcourt. I sent a text message to Onye’s phone and implicated my boss. There was a day my boss and Onye were arguing over their relationship. He told her that his father had already got him a woman he would marry. So, I exploited that argument to send a text message to her phone, stating that my boss killed her. I killed them out of anger. It was not intentional.
” I regret my action, but Yusuf did not do me well. How could he promise to help me save one year salary and refused to pay me? I also helped him to execute business worth several million and he refused to give me my own share. He refused to give me the little amount for my wedding, yet he was able to buy expensive things for his lover and paid N350, 000 house rent for her. I have begged for forgiveness. I pray that I will be forgiven by everybody “.
