‘Serial killer’ West now denies all

From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

The celebrated Port Harcourt suspected serial killer Gracious David-West on Monday shocked everyone in the courtroom when he denied being in any of the hotels where he allegedly killed many women.

He also disowned apparent images of him on the front page of a local newspaper and a video clip of him in a hotel with his alleged last victim.

The 40-year-old is standing trial for the murder of nine young women and attempted murder of another woman in different hotels in Rivers State, especially Port Harcourt last year.

He pleaded guilty to the charges when he was first arraigned, but later changed his guilty plea when a lawyer said he would defend him.

Early this month, David-West told Judge Adolphus Enebeli that he did not visit any hotel in any part of the state last year, neither did he kill anybody.

Read Also: Rivers ‘serial killer’ says he’s no longer guilty

Yesterday prosecuting counsel Chidi Eke came to court with a local tabloid that published West’s photograph in handcuffs taken the day he was paraded by the state Commissioner of Police Mustapha Dandaura shortly after his arrest.

Eke equally played a short viral Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) video of him and his alleged last victim, Dorcas David, in a hotel in a part of the capital city.

In the video, David-West wore the same white and blue striped T-shirt as he did in the photograph.

Surprisingly, the suspect denied being the person in any of the images, insisting that he did not know what they were talking about and that he did not commit any offence.

The judge allowed the video images to be admitted as exhibit, but did not accept the copy of the newspaper on the ground of court discretion.

David-West argued that the newspaper was not admissible as exhibit because it was not sourced from the archives of the state library board, nor was it endorsed by any senior official of the library board.

The court disallowed the newspaper’s admissibility, but accepted the video clip as exhibit.

The matter was adjourned till March 27.