Corps Member Who Killed 'Lover' In Akwa Ibom Says She Did It In Self-defence — Police

The corps member who stabbed a young man to death in Akwa Ibom has said she did it in self-defence.

Princess Odume, the accused person, has been remanded in police custody since Sunday after neighbours caught her trying to jump over a fence after killing the young man. 

On Tuesday, the police spokesperson in the state, Odiko Ogbeche-Macdon, said the young man killed by Odume has been duly identified as Japhet Akwaowo. 

Ogbeche-Macdon said Odume claimed Akwaowo threatened to kill her upon her refusal to oblige his request to remove her clothes so that he could have sex with her. 

He said, “She actually killed the young man identified as Akwaowo Japhet. She said she went to buy bean cake, akara, and saw a man that beckoned to her to come over to him. She said she went to meet him, they got talking and she found herself in his house. She said she waited for him outside and he went inside to bring a knife. He said he was going to stab her and no one would know what happened. She also said Japhet asked her to remove her clothes and she refused. What basically happened was that she overpowered him.”

Odume was arrested by the police after she allegedly hacked Akwaowo to death with a machete.

The young woman, who is said to be a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, was stripped naked and humiliated by neighbours of the deceased who caught her trying to jump over the fence with the cutlass.

According to an eyewitness account, Odume was caught on Sunday at Abak Road after neighbours saw the corpse of Akwaowo lying in a pool of blood with several cuts on his body.

A Facebook user, who was at the scene of the incident, posted on his timeline: “She was accused of killing a young guy early this morning at Abak Road. I saw a large crowd gathered at Abak Road by Afaha Offot so I ran there. Lo and behold, this young lady was being beaten and stripped totally naked.

“She was found this morning around 9.30am trying to jump over the fence of a young guy she went for hook-up with. Bloodstains were all over her so she was caught and beaten to stupor and also stripped naked. (I won’t be able to post the video on my timeline because it’s so disgusting).

“She macheted a young guy to death (killed a young man with a machete) this morning whom she went out with. She killed the young guy instantly after several cuts on his stomach and face, but while trying to jump over a fence, she was caught.

“Some bike men (commercial motorcyclists) there said that she used to send them (to get her) weed always, ever since she was deployed to Akwa Ibom for her NYSC (National Youth Service Corps).”

However, Henry Obiakwa, a man who claimed to be the boyfriend of Odume, told SaharaReportes on Monday that she was not capable of committing such a crime.

Obiakwa said he had been in a relationship with Odume for over a year though he added that the relationship was shaky because of the long distance between them.

According to Obiakwa, Odume is a very peaceful woman who is not violent. He said anytime she was angry, she kept quiet.

He said, “We started dating two years ago. Though I live far away and you know how long-distance relationships can be. I came back last October for a traditional wedding which I invited her to attend with me and she came. We never broke up just that the relationship is no longer how it is supposed to be.

“Since I have known her, she has never been a violent person. Whenever she is angry, all she does is to keep quiet. I don’t think she can kill someone except she says it herself.”

Obiakwa also said he lives in Lagos, while Odume who was living in Enugu with her family, was recently posted to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State for her one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme.