A 27-year-old Nigerian man who allegedly murdered his girlfriend and buried her body in a shallow grave in his bedroom has been arrested by the Bayelsa State Police Command in the Okaka suburb of Yenagoa metropolis.
The victim, 26-year-old Kate Ogwoh, a graduate of Novena University in Delta State, was strangled to death on Thursday night, July 28.
According to local media and police reports, the accused, Joseph Fekali, a youth pastor in a Pentecostal Church in Yenagoa, murdered his girlfriend over an N50, 000 ($120 US approx.) debt he was owing for clothes she sold to him.
He then dug a shallow grave in his bedroom, tied her hands and legs, and buried her, reports said.
"She used to sell clothes. The suspect owed her N50, 000 and she went to get the money from him yesterday (Thursday)," a source told Prime Star News.
"No one heard from her until this Friday morning when her mother went looking for her at the man’s house and saw the shallow grave, that’s when she raised the alarm."
"Until her death, she was a member of Christ Embassy Church in Yenagoa while Joseph was a youth pastor in a Pentecostal Church. He isn’t a ‘Yahoo boy’ as speculated in some quarters," the station quoted the source as saying.
Another version of the report claimed that the scene of the killing suggested that suspect’s intention was to use the victim’s body for a money ritual.
Confirming the incident, Bayelsa Police Spokesperson, Asinim Butwat, said the suspect was arrested following a tip-off by neighbors.
"Joseph Fekala, 27 years of Ikibiri Community, but residing at Okaka, strangled one Kate Ogwoh, f, 26 years to death on 28th July 2022. He buried the deceased in a shallow grave in his bedroom," he said in a statement on Friday.
"The suspect was arrested following a tip-off by neighbors on 29 July 2022, at about 0800 hours. He is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department. The investigation is ongoing," Butwat said.
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