Razor blade murder:I didn’t mean to kill my friend – Suspect

It will be recalled that Ijeoma Ibezim who lives on No. 24, Ayorinde Street, Ajegunle, Olodi-Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State had penultimate Saturday allegedly used a new razor blade to cut her roommate Ada Okeke in the face. The deep cut later led to the death of the victim who had bled profusely […]

It will be recalled that Ijeoma Ibezim who lives on No. 24, Ayorinde Street, Ajegunle, Olodi-Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State had penultimate Saturday allegedly used a new razor blade to cut her roommate Ada Okeke in the face. The deep cut later led to the death of the victim who had bled profusely before neighbours and passers-by who heard her shout for help could mobilise to rush her to the nearest hospital for treatment.

According to the police, the two ladies lived together with two other ladies in the same one-room apartment. Investigations revealed that one Nkechi was the original tenant of the room apartment, but she moved away recently to her husband’s house after she got married. She therefore left Ijeoma, Chinenye and Chika to continue to live in the room until they would get better accommodation or get married like her.

Our correspondent gathered that not too long after, the late Ada moved in with the three other ladies when she got a job as a sales lady in Lagos Island. She was said to have pleaded with the other girls to allow her to stay with them so that she could be going early to work because she just got the job offer the previous month.

A concerned neighbour revealed that all the ladies usually left for and got back from work since January and that all of them are all sales ladies in different shops in Lagos Island. The incident shocked all the neighbours who maintained that there was no sign of any fight or quarrel among the ladies until that particular day.

In actual fact, Ijeoma during her confessional statement, maintained that the late Ada Okeke (25 years old) was a good friend of hers and that they had never been involved in any form of disagreement before that very day. When Weekly Trust tried to probe further into allegations that she intended to disfigure her friend by cutting her in the face because the friend snatched her boyfriend, she answered in the negative.

She stated categorically that the issue of boyfriend never existed between the two of them. Shedding more light on how the incident occurred, Ijeoma disclosed that on that fateful Saturday, they were about to have their baths and a mild disagreement started over who should be the first to make use of their bathing bucket.

She said Ada had finished using the bucket to wash her clothes, but still held on to the bucket, saying she must take her bath before she would allow her to make use of the bucket. She said that was what really angered her and she decided to fight it out with Ada.

According to eye-witnesses, the disagreement later snowballed into the exchange of blows with both calling each other foul names. The duo were said to have boxed each other mercilessly until neighbours came out and separated them. Each of them went their way after neighbours waged into the disagreement.

Not knowing that all was not yet right, Ada Okeke, the deceased, started doing other chores in the house without suspecting that her friend Ijeoma was still very bitter as a result of the teeth bite she’d sustained during the fight.

Superintendent Frank Mba told Weekly Trust that he was informed that the suspect later grabbed her friend and cut her across the face with the new blade which she got from their room. The victim’s nose and cheek were cut open and she started shouting for help. Neighbours were said to have been stunned beyond words when they saw her bleeding and before they finally summoned up the courage to rush her to the hospital, it was a little bit too late, because due to the uncontrollable bleeding, Ada gave up the ghost after a few hours.

Ijeoma has since maintained that she never planned to kill her friend with the blade but only wanted to revenge because of the teeth bite she’d sustained during the fight.

“My intention was just to also cut her face as she tried to disfigure my face. I did not plan to kill her with the razor blade. I am really sorry for everything that happened. Please, forgive me”.

Ijeoma is presently cooling her feet at the police station until her case will be charged to court.