Awka – The trial of principal suspects in connection with the murder of Miss Chinenye Promise Nwoye, an undergraduate of the University of Benin, who was strangled to death at a hotel in Abagana, Njikoka Local Government Area of the State, will commence on the 29th of July.
The trial is to take place at the State High Court Neni, Anaocha Local Government Area.
Anambra State Ministry of Justice had filed papers at the Court for the trial, but the nationwide strike action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, stalled the trial.
It was gathered that nine witnesses had been lined up by the Prosecution counsel for the trial.
On the 27th day of August, 2020, Miss Nwoye, who hails from Ire village Abba, and was on scholarship at the Uniben, was reportedly strangled to death inside room 057 Akuu Hotel in Abagana, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, after she was lured to the facility.
Principal suspects in the matter, Kingsley Ogbonnaya, aged 24, from Amovu, Arochukwu in Abia State, but a Welder at Building Material Market, Ogidi, Anambra State and one Kosarachukwu Chinedu Igwilo, were accused of killing the deceased by binding her hands and feet, and strangling her, which led to asphyxiation and eventual death.
In his confessional statement to the Police, Mr. Ogbonnaya, among other things, said his fellow suspect, Mr. Igwilo, still at large, hails from Adazi-Nnukwu, Anambra State, but was his classmate at Urban Secondary School, Abakaliki, where Chinedu’s mother resides, and both had communication last in 2019.
He further explained that on that fateful day, the fleeing suspect, Mr. Igwilo, used his (Ogbonnaya’s) phone to call and invite Miss Nwoye for a journey to the hotel from where she never returned alive.
He however insisted that he never conspired or participated in killing the deceased, who had been laid to rest months back.
TNC Correspondent, reports that although the trial has been slated for the 29th of this month, it may not hold, as “Prisons are not producing defendants yet”, according to a reliable source.
