Suspected Ritualist Allegedly Strangles UNIBEN Student To Death Inside Hotel
An undergraduate of University of Benin (UNIBEN), Miss Chinenye Promise Nwoye has died after allegedly being strangled by a suspected ritualist in a hotel room at Abagana, Njikoka Local Government Area, Anambra state.
According to Anambra Broadcasting Service Radio, the young lady from Iruokpala, Ire Village in Abba, Njikoka Local Government of Anambra State, is believed to be a victim of scammers or kidnappers, who lured her into the hotel for ritual purposes on August 27.
Miss Nwoye, who was on scholarship at UNIBEN, kept busy during the COVID-19 break by registering for computer lessons in a neighbouring town.
On the day she was killed, she was allegedly lured to the hotel by her killers.
While there, she made a phone call to her family members to inform them that she was in danger and needed her ATM pin number to free herself from “kidnappers.”
Her mother, Mrs. Chinyere Nwoye and a member of her family fellowship, Brother Jude Okoye, narrated how they rushed to the hotel shortly after the deceased called them but it was too late.
The bereaved mother said: “I had immediately dressed up and left for the said hotel with a family fellowship member. On arrival, we met some boys outside the hotel. When I asked the receptionist about my daughter’s whereabouts, they started checking for the booked rooms and overheard her telling one boy to give her the keys to room 57 and 58 and on refusal, the attendant sought for a spare key with which she opened the room and screamed out loud to everyone’s hearing ‘These people have killed somebody ooo.’
“I now ran upstairs and was shocked to see my daughter naked, lying face down with her hands and legs tied with her own clothes. From the clothes and the sandals, I knew it was my daughter. When the fellowship member with me started raising alarm, they now called the Police from Abagana Police Divison who came and took the body away.”
She said police officers from Abagana Divisional Police Station took the corpse to Bekee Hospital Mortuary Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area.
Mrs. Chinyere Nwoye and Jude Okoye accused the hotel management of complicity in Chinenye Nwoye’s painful death through their actions and/or inactions. They called on government and human rights groups to unveil the killers.
She said: “I did not waste any time in getting there, so there was no reason to kill my daughter. That hotel is a ritual place, and all of them know what happened to my daughter. It was even surprising that none of our kinsmen wanted to hear anything from me even when I went to tell them my story. That is why I am calling on government and human rights group to look into this matter and bring the killers of my daughter to book. This is a promising young girl that her life has just been terminated.”
Two suspects, including a staff of the hotel, who were reportedly arrested by the Police over the incident, were said to have been released, fueling suspicion of an intense pressure to sweep the matter under the rug.
Further investigations showed that there are no forms of documentation whatsoever done at the hotel when guests check in and security measures were not in place. Commercial activities are still ongoing at the hotel, with customers lodging without documentation.
