Detectives attached to the Homicide unit of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID) have arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly murdering a lawyer in a hotel room in Ikeja, Lagos state.
The police said the suspect, Joshua Usulor, broke into the room of the female deceased, Feyitayo Obot, 34, with a view to robbing her of some money to enable him pay for his own accommodation in the same hotel.
Usulor was alleged to have stabbed Obot severally before slitting her throat with a knife and thereafter bolting away with her cash and other valuables.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, who confirmed the incident, said that on January 26, 2019, the Lagos State Police Command received a report that a lady had been gruesomely murdered in her hotel room at Opebi, Ikeja.
Oti said that sequel to the report, the Command sent homicide detectives to the scene of crime, where they collected important exhibits for forensic analysis.
“The body, which had multiple stab wounds on the abdominal region and the throat slit open with a sharp object, was recovered for autopsy.
“Although the murderer absconded after committing the crime, painstaking investigation led to the arrest of the suspect, Joshua Usulor, on February 28, 2019, at his hideout in Victoria Island, Lagos,” he said.
According to him, during interrogation, Usulor confessed to have committed the crime.
“He said he had never met Ms Obot until the day he attacked her, and that he was motivated to rob the deceased to enable him offset his hotel bill, having spent two days beyond the one day he paid for.
“To execute his plan undetected, the suspect claimed he sneaked into the room of the deceased to steal her money and her phones, but the deceased struggled with him and was overpowered.
“He then stabbed her with a sharp knife on the stomach and used the same knife to slit her throat. Satisfied that the woman was dead, he made away with her phones and a cash sum of N26,000.
“Investigation revealed that the deceased was a lawyer who came to Lagos for a business meeting and lodged in a hotel at Opebi, Ikeja.
The autopsy on her result revealed that she died due to excessive loss of blood, disruption of the left jugular vein and sharp force trauma.”
The PPRO said that the suspect would soon be charged to court with murder.