The trio of Alexander Ogbeije, Osarenwinde Iduwanyi and Junior Omo-Shaba now share a cell at the headquarters of the Edo State Police Command awaiting when they would be charged court to face murder trial.
Their fate now lies on how well they can convince judges that they are innocent of the crimes they are accused. They are strangers now bounded by the similar crimes they committed at different locations in the month of July. All of them allegedly killed their lovers.
Their stories are that of love turned sour, betrayal and perhaps killing by mistake. They all planned to marry their lovers they ended up killing.
Osarenwinde Iduwanyi , 46, said his life is in a mess because he refused to listen to his mother not to fall in love with a single mother of three, Gladys Okoh. He said late Gladys frustrated his life because he did everything she wanted him to do. The multiple stabbing he inflicted on his lover showed how bitter he was about how their love affairs turned out. Police said he stabbed his lover in several places, including her vagina.
He told reporters that he was in Italy for 12 years after which he left for the United States before he finally settled in South Africa. Osarenwinde said he has a family in Italy.
Narrating how his late lover frustrated his life, Osarenwinde said he loved her and wanted to marry her despite the warnings from his mother and relatives.
According to him, “Look at me now. My life is finished. I wanted to marry her so I always try to make her happy. My mother told me to leave her but I did not listen.
“She was always insulting my mother and I will be begging her and begging my mother. There was a day I saw condom in her bag but that was not the reason I stabbed her.
“She said I should open business for her so I sold my SUV at a cheap price of N250,000 and gave her N150,000. I travelled to Lagos and when I came back I saw that she has bought clothes and other personal things with the money. I was annoyed and reported her to her brother about how she spent the business money I gave her.
“I wanted to still buy a caravan for her but she was still quarrelsome. On the day the incident happened, I was calling her and she was not picking my calls. When I got to her house, she said she wanted to leave the relationship. I told why, after she has frustrated my life, she said it was my mother that frustrated my life.
“She brought out a knife and wanted to stab me but we struggled and I took it from her. I don’t know why I didn’t go outside with the knife but I stabbed her and went home”.
Alexander said he had worked hard on his farm for the past three years to raise the money that eventually caused the crisis that led to his killing the woman he wanted to marry.
Police said he used cutlass to kill Mercy but he said he only slapped her and she fainted.
According to Alexander, “My girlfriend slapped me two times and I slapped her back then she died. She is my wife. I want to marry her. We are from the same Abavo village in Delta State. I have a farm in Urhonigbe, Edo State. Since last year, we have been together. We were putting things together planning for the future. There was a time I told her that I have over N500,000. I told her that I will use part of the money to pay her bride price and use the rest to open business for her.
“After three days, I returned from work and saw that the money was missing. I asked her about it and she said she will kill me if I ever talk about the money again. I left her. In the evening, this girl has arranged boys in the house. They started beating me and I do not know why they were beating me. She reported me to the police and anti-cult unit. I have to run away from my town. When she came to meet me at the farm, I asked her why there was misunderstanding between us. She slapped me twice and I returned the slap which made her to faint. I ran away and later reported myself to the police.
“I did not bury the body. I left it when I saw that she was no longer breathing. I worked hard alone to get that money.
“All I am begging is that government should help me to beg the family to my back any expenses. It was a mistake for me to kill her.”
Junior Omo-Shaba said it was a big mistake for him to kill his girlfriend. Aged 19, he opted to learn fashion after he finished secondary school. He rented an apartment and enrolled his late girlfriend to learn how to make hair.
He said what led to the death of his girlfriend was an unserious argument on why he used to return home late.
According to him, ”She was on her way to her house at about 10pm when I met her at the gate. We went back home. She brought out a knife from my room and started peeling orange. She was jokingly saying I was with other girls who made me to always return home late. She said she would use the knife to injure my face so that other girls will not follow me again.
“I told her I will use the knife to injure her face. I held her behind her back and we were dragging. It was then the knife pierces her right breast. I ran out of the house in fear. My friend visited me and I told him what happened. He said we should take her to the hospital. It was while we were taking her to the hospital that some persons pointed torch at us and my friend ran away leaving me with my injured girlfriend. The knife was still in her breast.
“I was sacred so I ran away too. I heard gun shot and it was later I saw that it hit my finger. I was called the next day that my girlfriend is lying on the street dead. I called my mother and she called my father. My father said I should report to the nearest police station but I said he should accompany me. It was my father that took me to the police station.
“She was just 19. She is a young girl. I felt bad about what happened. My father married another wife so I decided to rent an apartment.”