A 20-year-old man, Anthony Toms, yesterday told an Ebute- Metta Magistrates’ Court, Lagos that he recruited four men to assist him in beating his male lover to death. Toms told the court presided over by Mr Olanrewaju Olatunji that the victim owed him N600, which he refused to pay.
The accused, however, said it was not his intention to beat his 32-year-old lover, Sonye Chukwudi, to death. Other defendants are Godwin Francis, 25, Michael Iyang, 21, Evidence David, 23, and Etuk Tony.
The incident occurred on June 21, around 9:30pm at Ransom Kuti Garden, Anthony Village, Lagos. Investigators said that Toms initiated Chukwudi’s murder by ordering his friends to tie his hands and legs, and then proceeded to beat him. Chukwudi lost consciousness and never recov-ered. Police said that Toms killed Chukwudi because he refused to repay him a N600 debt. The money was for the sales of garden flowers Toms sold to the deceased.
Toms pleaded guilty to the charges. He said: “I met Chukwudi a few years back. He lured me into homosexualism. I told him that I’m a gardener. He told me he would need me to get some flowers for him. I did, but he did not pay me the remaining money.
“I repeatedly asked him, but he refused to pay me. I thought if I threatened him, he would pay me. I called him on the fateful day and asked him to meet me at Ikeja. We both headed to Anthony. On getting to our destination, I asked him for my money. He said he did not have money on him. I called my friends.” Toms said that his four friends assisted him in tying up his lover. They tied his hands and legs.
The idea was to beat him up and collect any money found on him. They did and found N4,750 on him. They also found a Symbian phone. Toms said: “We noticed he had fainted and dragged him back to his car. We waited for a while, but he did not recover.
We took a second look at him and discovered that he was dead. We abandoned him. Police later came to arrest us. We did not know how the police got information that we killed him.” Toms’ cronies all denied knowing the late Chukwudi.
They explained that they had never set eyes on the deceased until the day Toms came, seeking their help. They added that Toms told them that he needed their help in dealing with the deceased. Toms also told them that Chukwudi refused to pay for services rendered. Olatunji adjourned the case till July 31
No comments:
Post a Comment