In
a bid to hide his alleged amorous relationship with a 25-year-old member of his
church, a pastor, Chidiebere Okoroafor, has allegedly murdered three persons
and an unborn child in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The
32-year-old pastor and preacher at Altar of Solution Church based in Oyigbo
area of the city was recently arrested by men of the Rivers State Police
Command for the alleged crime, which also led to the death of a nine-month-old
baby.
Those
allegedly killed by the cleric are Concilia Ezeawa and Uluoma Onweagba, who was
carrying a five-month-old pregnancy before her death. While the cleric
strangled Ezeawa in an uncompleted building, the pregnant Onweagba was killed
in a bush during the serial murder that happened on December 11, 2017.
The
nine-month-old baby, Christabel Joseph, was strapped to the back of the
pregnant Onweagba even though Ezeawa was the actual mother. Saturday
Punch learnt that the baby hit her head on the ground and died when
the pastor allegedly pushed Onweagba to the ground.
Pastor
Okoroafor, who hails from Arochukwu in Abia State, was said to have committed
the offence in his desperate attempt to hide the fact the he had impregnated
25-year-old Onweagba.
It
was gathered that the Rivers State Police Command began to direct its
searchlight at the pastor when it got information from one of the neighbours of
the deceased that they (Ezeawa and Onweagba) had been missing since they said
that they were going to see him (pastor) to sort out a matter bordering on
pregnancy.
Speaking
with journalists on Friday at the State Police Command in Port Harcourt, the
Deputy State Commissioner of Police, in charge of Administration, Cyril Okoro,
said, “The case started unfolding on December 11, 2017. At about 11am, the
whereabouts of Concilia Ezeawa, Christabel Joseph and Uluoma Onweagba (all
female) became unknown to their families.
“This
resulted in the lodging of a formal complaint on their disappearance at the
Afam Divisional Headquarters. After a preliminary investigation by the police,
coupled with a diligent search by members of the community, the decomposing
corpse of Uluoma Onweagba and Christabel Joseph (baby) were discovered in a bush
along the Afam-Igberu Road on December 13, 2017.
“Their
corpses were immediately evacuated and deposited at the mortuary pending
further investigation. On December 18, 2017, the decomposing corpse of the real
mother of the baby, Concilia Ezeawa, was recovered in an uncompleted building
in Izuoma community in Oyigbo Local Government Area . The corpse, which was at
an advanced stage of decomposition, was evacuated and deposited at the mortuary
pending further police investigation.
“The
pastor, who was said to have been involved in an amorous relationship with one
of the deceased, Onweagba,was invited, interviewed and interrogated about the
murders of the victims.
“He
was subsequently detained as his explanations were not convincing, particularly
compared to the information at the disposal of investigators that the deceased
persons had on December 11, 2017, informed close neighbours that they were
going to see the pastor over a pregnancy issue involving Onweagba.”
DCP
Okoro said the pastor later confessed to the crime after being faced with
overwhelming evidence and facts linking him to the murder of the deceased
persons.
Okoroafor
allegedly took advantage of the trust the two members of his church had in him
to lure them to an uncompleted building and inside the bush before killing
them.
The
pastor, according to Okoro, first lured Ezeawa to an uncompleted building,
telling the other person (pregnant Onweagba) to wait some distance away. He
added that unknown to the pregnant lady, the pastor had killed her neighbour.
He
said after strangling Ezeawa in the uncompleted building, he (pastor) joined
Onweagba along Afam Road, where they both took a commercial tricycle to Afam
Roundabout.
Okoro
said, “They again took a commercial motorcycle to an isolated farm on Igberu
Road where he took her through a track road and gruesomely murdered her in the
bush, with the baby strapped to her back.
“She
(pregnant Onweagba) was suffocated with the wrapper she used in strapping the
baby to her back. The baby was also found dead.”
Okoro,
however, explained that the suspect’s confessional statements took detectives
to the various scenes and gave the story of how he snuffed the lives out of the
victims.
The
police officer also said that an autopsy had since been carried out on the
victims.
“The
murders were premeditated, callous and devoid of human sympathy,” Okoro said,
adding that the pastor would soon be charged to court.
However,
when confronted with the allegations against him, the pastor told journalists
that his action was not intentional. The suspect pleaded with the police to
help appeal to the families of those he killed to forgive him. He also told
journalists that he had a vision that he would be taken to court soon.
“I
want the family of Uluoma and Mr. Joseph (father of the nine-month-old baby,
Christabel,) to forgive me. I want the police to help me to apologise to the
families of those I killed. It was not intentional,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Punch correspondent gathered that the Altar of Solution Church had been shut
down as members of the church, who heard about the incident, had since
dissociated themselves from the church.
- Punch
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