A businessman, Mr. Ifeoluwa Oluwo, Thursday, has revealed
how Chidinma Ojukwu the murder suspect in the case of Super TV Chief Executive
Officer, Usifo Ataga, sold the deceased’s laptop to him.
Oluwo narrated to a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa
Balewa Square, TBS, that he bought the laptop from the first defendant for
N495,000.
He bought the laptop on June 18, two days after the body of
Ataga’s body was found at the short service apartment in Lekki.
The witness told the court that it was after he bought the
laptop that he saw her (defendant) on social media regarding a murder case.
He said as soon as he saw that it was the customer he bought
the laptop from, he ensured that all her documents were kept handy.
Oluwo stated this in the ongoing trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, a
300-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos and two others
over Ataga’s murder.
Ojukwua is standing trial alongside her sister, Chioma
Egbuchu, and one Adedapo Quadri.
The witness said he deals in the sales of phones, laptops
and accessories at Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos, and has been in the business
for five years,
Oluwo, who is the third prosecution witness (PW3), was led
in evidence in chief by the Lagos State prosecuting counsel, Mr. Yusuf Sule.
Chidinma, had on June 13, requested for the short service
apartment where Ataga was found dead and left the apartment on June 15, before
Ataga’s body was discovered on June 16.
The witness who testified before Justice Yetunde Adesanya,
and identified the first defendant (Chidinma) a customer, who made a purchase
of a phone on April 30 and also made a sale of her laptop on June 18, at the
same office.
He told the court that they buy and sell brand-new phones
and fairly used phones.
Oluwo said: “On June 18, she(Chidinma) sold me a laptop for
N495,000, after negotiations and market value comparison.
“In order to make a sale you have to submit some documents
and fill form: your government identification card, driver’s license,
international passport, voter’s card, NIN.
“You also have to fill a form which includes email, phone
number, house address, full name.
“It will also contain the full value of the item, for that
day, the name of the item and the serial number of the item.
“This is what we do to contact customer if there is any
issues,” he said.
‘She said she had 2 laptops and needed money to pay bills’
He said that he inspected the laptop physically, but that he
was unable to access it initially.
Oluwo said: “I asked her (first defendant) to unlock the
laptop and she did.
“So I conducted my
internal observation which included speed performance, the circle count of the
battery and general functionality.
“After that I, proceeded to ask questions: do you have a
receipt for this laptop?
“She stated that it was a gift from her boyfriend, and that
she has two laptops and needed to sell one to pay for some bills.
“I conducted a check on a website for my market evaluation.
I confirmed the value of the laptop. It was $1,000 to $1,200.
“The exchange rate of Dollars as at that time was N400 to
N450.
“She wanted to sell for N600,000. We were able to negotiate
for N495,000, which I initiated from my bank account to hers.”
When asked if the first defendant produced the receipt of
the laptop, Oluwo further told the court that she was not able to provide the
receipt as she insisted that it was a gift from her boyfriend.
The witness said: “After the sale of the laptop, we saw her
face on social media, regarding a murder case.
“Few days later, the Police from State Criminal
Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, invited my Manager, Olutayo Abayomi.
“A call was made to me by someone else in the office, that
he has been invited to the police station. So I proceeded to the station to
find out why.
“When I got to the Police Station, I discovered that it was
in connection to the laptop we bought from Chidinma on June 18.
“We both made a statement detailing how we came about the
laptop and how we made the purchase.
“We gave the police the documents of the former owner, which
included a copy of her voters’ card, a copy of our form, all receipts which
already have her information, regarding the laptop,” the witness said.
Asked if he can detect that a product is a stolen item, he
said no.
“There is no way we can detect that a phone or laptop was a
stolen one,” he said.
During cross-examination, the first defendant’s counsel, Mr.
Onwuka Egwu, asked if he was shown any documents, receipts or proof of
ownership to show that the laptop was not for the first defendant at Panti. He
said no.
Justice Adesanya adjourned the case to November 29, for
continuation of trial.
The three defendants were arraigned on October 12 on a
nine-count charge preferred against them by Lagos State Government.
The first and second defendants were alleged to have
conspired and murdered Ataga on June 15, by stabbing him several times with a
knife on the neck and chest.
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