A chief magistrate’s court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has remanded Pastor Chidebere Okoroafor, founder of Altar of Solution Church, in prison for the alleged murder of a 25-year-old pregnant woman and two others.
The 32-year-old pastor, who was paraded at the police headquarters at the weekend in Port Harcourt, was said to have gruesomely murdered the victims, Ada Concilia Ezenwa, Uluoma Onweagba and 11 months old Christabel Joseph Ezenwa, his church members.
The accused, while narrating how he killed the three, told the court that he murdered the first victim, Uloma, by strangling her, while the married woman, Ezenwa, died when she hit her chest on the ground after he (Okoroafor) pushed her. He also admitted that the third victim, 11-month-old Christabel, died during the process.
Police investigation showed that Okoroafor allegedly lured his victims to an uncompleted building in a farm in Afam axis of Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state, where he allegedly committed the murder of the three. It was also alleged that the pregnant victim was in a relationship with the accused before she was murdered alongside the two others.
The accused is facing a three-count charge of murder in suit PMC/456c/2018. The charge read: “That you, Pastor Chidebere Okoroafor, on the 11th day of December, 2017, at Izuoma Community, Oyigbo, within the Port Harcourt Magisterial District, did murder one Ada Concilia Ezenwa by strangling her on the neck till she died and, thereby, committed an offence punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. II, Laws of Rivers State Nigeria, 1999.
“That you, Pastor Chidebere Okoroafor, on the 11th day of December, 2017, at Egberu village, Afam, within the Port Harcourt Magisterial District, did murder one Uluoma Onweagba by strangling her on the neck till she died and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. II, Laws of Rivers State Nigeria, 1999.
“That you, Pastor Chidebere Okoroafor, on the same date and place in the aforesaid magisterial district, did murder one Christabel Joseph Ezenwa, a child of 11 months old, by pushing her off from the back of Uluoma Onweagba to the ground, where she broke her skull, which caused her death and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. II, Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria, 1999.”
In her ruling, Magistrate Kariba Braide ordered that the accused be remanded in the prison and directed the court prosecution to transmit the case file to the high court, where the accused would be tried accordingly.(the sun)
