A couple in the coal city has fallen into police net for worsening the trauma of Benjamin Eneje, a businessman, whose 28-year-old son, Paschal Eneje, was murdered in cold blood, very close to his house, on April 19, 2014, at Nsude, Udi Local Government Area, Enugu State.
In January this year, Okechukwu Emeka, 37, cooked up a story and sent a text message to Eneje with intent, as the police alleged, to deceive and extort money from him, by claiming that he knew the person who killed his son, adding that the killer was residing in Uwani, Enugu city. In the text message, he pretended to be a woman and told the grieving father that before Paschal was gruesomely murdered, he had impregnated "her" and that "she" later gave birth to a baby boy, who was already four months old. Seeing a glimmer of good coming out of the sad end of his only son, Eneje was excited at the prospect of getting some comfort from nurturing his grandson. So he requested that a picture of the child be sent to him.
Promptly, Emeka sent a picture of his own four-month-old son, through Whatsapp to Eneje, who requested to discuss with the supposed mother of his late son's child. Quickly, Emeka recruited his wife, 35-year-old Destiny, to act as the lady, who was impregnated by late Paschal and mother of the boy.
Emeka called Eneje and passed the phone to his wife, who regaled the heartbroken man with a convincing tale of how she met and fell in love with his son. She spoke glowingly about Paschal and the baby boy. The spider web tale apparently touched the man and he agreed to provide to her with financial support, to care for his "grandson." From that day, the couple began to push him for money.
In a chat with Sunday Sun, Eneje narrated his encounter with the couple, which corroborated what the couple said. He added: "I believed what the lady told me. I thanked her letting me know the story. And I promised to take care of her and the baby boy. I even connected her to my wife in London. She began to chat with my wife on Whatsapp."
My wife asked for a picture of the baby boy, which was sent to her in London, through Whatsapp. At this point, they made a request for N500,000 for the upkeep of the baby boy. We agreed and I sent them N350,000 naira.
Later, I asked the woman to bring the baby to Enugu, for us to see him. She said I should send them money for air-tickets. At this point, I became suspicious and reported the matter to Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu and detectives from the command started trailing them."
Adamu told Sunday Sun that his men eventually laid ambush for them in Port Harcourt. And then moved to arrest them on September 23, 2015, at Rumuigbo, a suburb of the garden city. Eneje said he was shocked to the marrow when he saw the suspects.
His words: "When they were arrested and I saw them, I was shocked to see that the husband of the woman was Okechukwu Emeka, a staff working in my oil service firm."
When Okechukwu Emeka spoke with Sunday Sun, he confessed to the crime. His wife added that she and her husband used the money they got from Eneje to meet their living expenses and pay their children's school fees. As their cookie had crumbled, the couple have been begging Eneje to forgive them, lamenting that poverty and greed led them into the alleged crime.
However, the police boss has assured that the couple would have a day in court soon.
