I Killed My Lover

Busted! Jennifer Asiamo Ofili A DAILY GUIDE publication of the picture of a woman who allegedly killed her 30-year-old lover at Kissieman, an Accra suburb, has led to her arrest within twenty-four hours at an East Legon Hotel in Accra.

When 27-year-old Jennifer was arrested by the Police who swooped on the hotel on Thursday, she did not tarry in confessing that “I killed my lover in a fight”.

Jennifer had been declared wanted by the Police after she allegedly stabbed to death her Nigerian boyfriend, Christopher Mario Asiamo, who lived with her at Christian Village in Accra.

The suspected killer was said to be a regular face at the East Legon hotel but in the past three years, a source at the hotel disclosed that she had not been as frequent as before.

Soon after the suspected murder, she turned up at the hotel after spending a night at another in Madina but on Thursday the owner of the facility turned up from town with a bunch of newspapers including a copy of the Daily Guide edition which carried a picture of the suspected killer on the front page.

As soon as the suspect saw her picture and an accompanying story about her in the paper, she became restless and her countenance was said to have changed.

An alarm was raised and the Police moved in to pick her up. The Police was said to have also picked up another suspect at the same hotel, based on another Daily Graphic story.

According to the Tesano Divisional Police Commander, ACP George Tuffour, the suspect, Jennifer Asiamo Ofili, lived with a certain Ojukwu, also a Nigerian, at Dome, but the man duped her, whereupon she relocated to Christian Village.

On one occasion, according to the Divisional Commander, a friend of Jennifer's, Peter Obase, a compatriot, introduced to her the deceased as a compatriot from the Delta State.

The deceased, who did not have accommodation at the time, moved in with her, and the two became intimate friends.

Last December, the couple traveled to Nigeria but all efforts by Jennifer to get Chris to introduce her to his family proved futile. She eventually introduced him to her family as her would-be-husband.

Upon their return to Ghana, the deceased sought to have her sell her personal belongings and return to Nigeria.

The idea, the Police Divisional Commander went on, was for him to use the proceeds to travel to Togo from where he could head for Algeria and then to Europe, for greener pastures. It was however not clear if he would have returned to marry the suspect.

He was unable to convince her to do his bidding because she dreaded a repeat of the treatment she received at the hands of Ojukwu.

The last time they quarreled, it was over money he requested from her and which she could not make available to him.

This developed into a quarrel during which her landlady, Anna Ayitey, mediated between them and warned them against further disturbing public peace.

The fight however continued whilst the landlady was away and Jennifer threatened to stab the deceased should he beat her as he often did.

Armed with a knife, like him, they engaged each other and in the ensuing encounter, she gained the upper hand and stabbed him fatally.

She confessed to stabbing the deceased but with no intention to kill him.

After the nasty incident, Nigerians in the suburb were ordered to leave the place within 24 hours or face the wrath of the traditional authorities, in an announcement which was said to have emanated from the Chief of the area.

It was later learnt that it was rather the linguist of the chief who caused the announcement to be spread via a town crier.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the announcement sent shivers down the spines of Nigerians living in the community as some landladies started to give ejection notices.

When the Police stormed the locality, they traced the source of the erroneous announcement and assured Nigerians in the area to live in peace.

The suspect made her first appearance before an Amasaman Magistrate Court yesterday and was remanded into police custody until 6th April, 2009.

 The crime was committed last Saturday after the landlady of the house in which the couple lived suspected that something was amiss and called in her children.

The Police was called when it was discovered that a crime had been committed but the law enforcement agents could not turn up because it was late at night.

They came the next morning to remove the remains of the deceased.

The body has since been deposited at the police hospital morgue awaiting autopsy.

The relatives of the deceased were expected to storm the country by the close of day to identify their kin and possibly collect his remains for burial in his hometown of Warri.

By Rocklyn Antonio