There were tears in an Abia State High Court in Umuahia on Wednesday as a video of confessions allegedly made by a murder suspect, Salem Chukwunyere, was played inside the courtroom by personnel of the Department of State Security, DSS.
In the video, the suspect, Chukwunyere, who identified himself as a plumber, confessed to killing a woman, Nkem Ndife by using a bathroom sponge to strangle her inside her house in Umuahia, saying that he had come to solicit financial assistance from the woman on the day he killed her.
The suspect, in the video, said that he met the victim alone in her house before committing the crime.
Chukwunyere also confessed that he murdered another victim, one Chioma Nwoke, in Obinze, Imo State.
A DSS official had told the court that the alleged confession was voluntarily made by the suspect after his arrest, pointing out that it was not made under duress.
But the counsel to the defendant, Adimchinaka Udochukwu Ngumoha, argued that the confession made by the defendant in the video should not be adopted or admitted as evidence..
According to him, the video did not have authentication and certification documents to make them admissible.
The presiding judge, Justice Uche Enwereji, advised the counsel to the defendant to raise his objection during the presentation of his written address.
She adjourned the case to July 3, 2024 for continuation of hearing.
Speaking to Journalists after the case, the husband to late Nkem Ndife, Mr Christian Ndife, demanded justice for his wife.
He said his 48 -year-old wife was murdered in a most horrible manner at Agulu Street Umuahia on September 21, 2021.
Ndife, who broke down in tears, said, “I need justice, my wife’s life matters. Women’s lives matters. My wife should get justice, women should get justice.”
Also speaking, Mrs Clementina Nwoke, whose daughter, Chioma Nwoke, was allegedly killed by the same defendant, demanded justice for the victims.
Tears in court as DSS plays murder suspect’s alleged video confessions
