Due to the absence of a prosecution witness, the trial of undergraduate Chidinma Ojukwu for the murder of Super TV CEO Mr. Usifo Ataga was postponed on Tuesday.
Ojukwu is on trial in front of the Tafawa Balewa Square-based Lagos High Court.
Along with her sister Chioma Egbuchu and another person named Adedapo Quadri, she is also accused of stealing and forging documents.
The case was for a continuation of the trial, Lagos State’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DDPP), Mrs. A. O. Oluwafemi, informed the court on Monday.
She said, though, that DSP Olusegun Bamidele, the ninth witness for the prosecution, was not in court, he was still giving his testimony.
The witness texted the DDPP to let her know that he was soaked from the rain and unable to find a ride to court, according to the DDPP.
She apologised for leaving out the witness.
Mr. Onwuka Egwu, Mr. Babatunde Busari, and Miss M. A. Abia-Bassey, attorneys representing the defendants, claimed that the prosecution attorney had previously informed them of the development.
They did not object to the matter being postponed.
The trial was accordingly postponed to October 27 by Justice Yetunde Adesanya.
An audio recording of Ojukwu’s confessional statement was played in court at the most recent proceedings, which took place on October 18.
The first defendant in the case, Ojukwu, denied killing Ataga on the video.
Ojukwu said that she was unaware of Ataga’s murderer.
She claimed that after leaving the house and returning to find Ataga asleep on the floor of the flat they shared, she immediately packed her belongings and left.
In the video, Ojukwu said that she left out of fear.
On October 11, however, when the video tape was initially broadcast, it revealed Ataga’s lifeless body and Ojukwu confessing to killing him.
On October 12, 2021, Ojukwu, a student at the University of Lagos, was charged with nine counts together with Quadri and Egbuchu.
Ojukwu and Quadri are accused of committing crimes including conspiracy, murder, stabbing, forgery, creating false bank statements, and theft on up to eight counts.
Egbuchu, the third defendant, is charged with receiving an Ataga’s stolen iPhone 7 on the ninth count.
On June 15, 2021, Ojukwu and Quadri are accused of planning and killing Ataga by repeatedly stabbing him in the neck and chest.
Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State, Number 19, Adewale Oshin St. is the location of the claimed occurrence.
