The Lagos State High Court sitting at Igbosere on Thursday admitted in evidence Benjamin Nnayereugo, popularly known as “Killaboi”’s written statement and a video recording of his interrogation.
Killaboi is standing trial over the alleged murder of his girlfriend, Augusta Onuwabhagbe.
The statement and video recording were admitted in evidence, while an investigating police officer from the State Criminal Investigation Department, DSP Oderinde Gafar, testified in the ongoing murder trial of Nnayereugo.
The prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Adedayo Haroun, called Gafar following the conclusion of the deceased’s mother, Mrs Cordelia Onuwabhagbe’s testimony.
The witness narrated to Justice Ibironke Harrison how he carried out investigations on the arrest and extradition of the defendant.
Gafar told the court that Nnayereugo was arrested in Qatar following coordinated international efforts and later brought back to Nigeria for prosecution.
According to him, “The defendant was arrested in Qatar through collaboration with relevant security agencies and subsequently extradited to Nigeria to face trial.”
He further told the court that the defendant voluntarily made a written statement during interrogation.
“The defendant wrote his statement himself during the investigation,” he said.
The prosecution thereafter tendered the statement, which was admitted in evidence by the court without objection.
The court also played a video recording of the statement-taking process in open court.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Marcel Oru (SAN), the witness was questioned on the circumstances surrounding the making of the statement before he was discharged.
The prosecution informed the court that it had concluded the evidence of both the investigating officer and the deceased’s mother, Mrs Cordelia Onuwabhagbe, and that it had one remaining witness to close its case.
Justice Harrison thereafter adjourned the matter to June 17 and 18, 2026, for continuation of the trial.
On April 22, 2026, the deceased’s mother, Cordelia Onuwabhagbe, the grieving 56-year-old mother of the late Augusta, had told the court that she once regarded the defendant, Benjamin Nnayereugo, as a member of her family but never knew he was capable of murder.
While testifying during cross-examination, she said the defendant, also known as ‘Killaboi,’ frequently visited her home, where he ate, rested, and sometimes slept.
“Until this ugly incident that led to my daughter’s death, he was like a son to me. He came to my house, ate, rested, and slept, but I didn’t know he was a killer,” she said.
The witness, who put her daughter’s age at the time of death as 21 years, 5 months, 10 days, and 11 hours, also denied knowing that his alias was ‘Killaboi’ but said she got to know this after Augusta’s death.
She told Justice Harrison that the defendant attended her church twice and she thought he was a good person, but it turned out to be a ploy to deceive her.
While recounting what she knew of the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death, Cordelia testified that the defendant had taken the late Augusta on trips to Mauritius in 2021 and Seychelles in 2022.