Joy Anyim
A suspected internet fraudster, Orji Victor, has been arrested by the Police in Lagos, for killing his girlfriend, Alabi Mariam, over infidelity.
The 19-year-old Victor, who lives at G54 Army Post Service Housing Estate, Ojo in Lagos, had set Mariam, 24, ablaze on Saturday, resulting in her death at the hospital on Sunday morning.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the live-in couple met sometime in February 2019, and got committed regardless of the age difference.
Mariam, who was a commercial sex worker, had quit her trade to live with the suspect in March, on the promise that she would be sexually committed to him only.
However, trouble started for the couple, when on Thursday, December 5, 2019, Mariam had left the house, saying she was going to make her hair, and subsequently go visit her father.
On her return on Saturday, Victor who suspected her movement had out of curiosity, gone through Mariam’s phone, only to find her chat with another man, whom she had spent two nights with.
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The suspect also discovered that Mariam had also sent her nude pictures to the said man, an action that angered Victor.
As a way to punish Mariam for the act, the suspect had poured petrol on her and set her ablaze, leading to her death.
Speaking on the tragic incident, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Elkana Bala, revealed that the suspect who holds a Secondary School Certificate, finished from Gbagada Senior Grammar School in 2016, and was yet to secure admission into a tertiary institution.
According to Bala, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, the suspect had being into Internet fraud for three years.
“On December 7, 2019 at 11: 45 a.m., operatives of Iba Police Station arrested Orji Ifeanyichukwu Victor, 19, for setting Alabi Tolani Mariam, 24, ablaze. The suspect confessed that he used petrol to set the victim ablaze.
“The Suspect met the victim through a hookup and she moved into his house. They have since then, inhabited as lovers. She told the boy that her parents live apart. The suspect finished his Secondary School in 2016 at Gbagada Senior Grammar School and is seeking for admission into tertiary institution. He has been into internet fraud popularly known as Yahoo boys for the past three years.
“The suspect also revealed that the N600,000 he used in renting the apartment they live in, is a proceed of Internet fraud. He said he brought the victim into his house with conditions that she will quit prostitution and stick to him alone. However, Trouble started on Thursday when she left home to fix her hair and did not return until the next day. She equally left the house on Friday under the guise of visiting her Father but ended up seeing another man.
“The suspect got to know on Saturday when Mariam returned, and he picked and scrolled through her phone, saw her chats, video calls and naked pictures that she sent to the client she spent the night with. He became angry and used the petrol he kept for his generator to set her ablaze.”
“A team of detectives visited the scene, and the deceased was taken to General Hospital, Igando where she was admitted but died in the early hours of Sunday,” he said.
The PPRO said the Lagos Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu has directed the immediate transfer of the case to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.
He further stated that the suspect will be charged to court for murder.