However, the father and lawyer to the deceased family insist that Chinyere was beaten to death and her body thrown into the swimming pool, insisting justice must prevail.
Family lawyer’s
Ezieafa’s Charisma Enwedo, lawyer to the family, on behalf of the deceased family in a petition to the Anambra State Police Command accused the hotel management of trying to go for settlement with the family of Chinyere in order to cover up the murder of the lady. The lawyer in his petition insisted that the prime suspect, one Chinemere Hope Gabriel, alias ‘Bullion Van’ and his gang, beat the deceased to death over money sprayed on him.
“The prime suspect, Hope, alias ‘Bullion Van’ has singled out the deceased (not being one of his invitees) and began to beat her. It was further gathered that it was the prime suspect who first personally pounced on the deceased, which instigated the rest of his gang to join him in the beating, under the watch of the club manager, who didn’t prevent them, we are waiting for police investigation and autopsy report from them.
“It is our further brief that while the whole fracas was going on inside the clubhouse, the manager of the club, one Steven Junior alias Exclusive, instructed the bouncers to stand down and not to interfere, thereby stopping the security men from rescuing the deceased as they dragged her out of the clubhouse while beating her. “It is also in our brief that the deceased tried to manage to escape from their grip outside the club into the hotel compound, however, the accused person Gabriel alias ‘Bullion Van’ assembled his gang and pursued the deceased to the abandoned swimming pool corner wherein they waylaid and trapped her.
“It is in our brief that at some point, while the deceased was screaming as they were maiming and mutilating her, the prime suspect, Gabriel knocked her off with what seem like a metal, that broke her forehead and silenced her. “We further gathered that the manager instructed that the power generating set be put off, and the power supply to the entire hotel was sud- denly put off, throwing the entire hotel into darkness.
The suspect and his gang gathered round her lifeless body for a while, brought out some money which they squeezed into the deceased hand before dumping the lifeless body into the uncompleted abandoned swimming pool inside the hotel.”
It is important to note that all these happened inside the premises of what could be described as a very high standard hotel that is qualified to be described as a three-star hotel, with adequate security, both the bouncers at the club and the armed guards; none made effort to interfere or rescue the girl from her attackers Also the inability of the hotel management to provide a comprehensive CCTV video (rather a blurred and disjointed video clip) of what happened, both inside the club, where the beating started and outside the club, where the actual murder occurred, has left more question to be answered and uncovered.
We refer to the authentic video clip from the CCTV (already collected by the police) showing details of the murder and the subsequent dumping of the deceased lifeless body into the abandoned swimming pool. “It is also important to note that the investigating officer at the B Division, the suspects and the hotel management were coaxing the deceased family members to accept settlement prior to conclusion of investigation.
“We were reliably informed by an insider, a sympathetic officer that there has been a move to change the initial confessional statements of the prime suspects and that of the hotel manager “Finally, the unsealing of the said hotel for “Fun Seekers” as seen on social media, within 24 hours of its sealing, while investigation is still ongoing is rather very appalling than commendable. One might be tempted to question the sanctity of the deceased life; and the integrity of the investigation thereto.
Nobody is above the law or the ‘lesser’ before the law,” he said. With the litany of allegations and counter allegations between the hotel management and the family, it is left for the Anambra State Police Command to unravel the mystery and confusion behind the death of the young lady.
Deceased’s father
According to the 76-year-old, father of the deceased, Patrick Awuda, his daughter was beaten to death in the hotel, insists. He noted that the 27-year-old Chinyere, a graduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, has never been accused of stealing, not even when she was in school, “we are surprised that she was accused of stolen someone’s money, it is annoying to hear that from the hotel.
“I did not train my daughter in such a way to steal. She is not a thief and has never been a thief, so those calling her a thief are accusing her because she is dead and cannot say her own side of the story. “On the fateful day of the incident, I called to check on her as usual, because she would call every morning to check on me, when I didn’t hear from her, I tried to call her, but the line wasn’t connecting and I became apprehensive, that was when I called the brother who then contacted one of her friends after all efforts was exhausted.
We were taken to the hotel and we were made to wait until 4pm when a team of policemen came and asked if we wanted to see my daughter. “They then took us to an abandoned swimming pool in the hotel and allowed me in as her father, lo and behold when I saw my daughter’s lifeless body there was injuries on her bodies, but I was stopped from taking her pictures, her remains was quickly moved to the morgue, reason why that was done I don’t know.
“My daughter was a likeable person, she was not a thief as alleged, no evidence to show that she stole, she was murdered by the suspects, reason best known to them, I am calling for a thorough investigation into the matter.”
Hotel management
Meanwhile, the Cosmilla Hotel where the incident happened has denied that Chinyere was beaten to death. According to Stanley Akuneziri, the Awka Branch manager of the hotel, on Monday July 17, at about 9am, the hotel cleaner informed the manager who just came out of a management meeting and told him she had discovered some- thing floating inside the hotel’s abandoned swimming pool. “Immediately, we went to the pool and on a closer look we discovered the remains of a lady inside floating, and police was informed.
“I quickly called the General Manager of the hotel, one Mr. Emeka Mbanefo, who also called the Managing Director, Mr. Obinna Ezeama, who then called the Police. When the manager and some staff left the pool side and went back to the main building of the hotel, they saw two people exchanging words, but the two of them later turned out to be Chinyere’s brother and a man called Bullion Van.
“The deceased father and brother came into the hotel to protest the death of Chinyere, who came for brand opening the previous night and did not return home in the morn- ing as usual, I was told that was why the family came to check on her when they didn’t see her return home.” Akuneziri said they learnt that the argument over Chinyere not returning home started the previous night and snowballed till Monday which is the launching day of Bullion Van’s fashion brand, called ‘Bullion Van Cloth’ as a result of the fight, Chinyere was accused of stealing ‘Bullion Van’s money inside the club when his friends were spraying him money, which led to a serious altercation between Chinyere and two other Bullion Van’s friends.
“When I asked the deceased brother to explain their own part of the story, one of Chinyere’s friends who followed the brother to the hotel claimed to be with her when the issue started, saying ‘Bullion Van’ and his friends were chasing her all over the Club in a bid to beat her up, collect her money and probably seize her phone.
“As she was trying to explain, Chinyere’s brother started shouting and demanding that ‘Bullion Van’ provides their sister and name the amount he claimed she took from him as they are willing to pay him back. The altercation between the two parties inside the hotel was already chaotic and out of control, but fortunately for us, the police arrived at the right time and the matter was settled, so as to prevent breakdown of law and order in the hotel.
“It was the same policemen who took the parties to the swimming pool to show the family the remains of the deceased in the hotel pool.” It was gathered that after everybody had left the swimming pool side, the policemen came back to the hotel and arrested ‘Bullion Van’, his friends, and one other person and took them to their station. Akuneziri said, “As the police left, I and Chinyere’s family continued our quest to know what actually happened to her and how she got into the swimming pool, because it still remains a mystery to the hotel.”
A source in the hotel told our correspondent what they know that happened during the launch of ‘Bullion Van’ Fashion brand. “After the narration of what has transpired, we resorted to our CCTV footages for more details of how this incident happened. It was through the footage that we saw Bullion Van chasing Chinyere, when he couldn’t stop her, he then throw his phone at her.
We are waiting for the autopsy report.” The management of the hotel has however sympathised with the family of Chinyere, wishing them divine comfort during this trying pe- riod, saying it is an unfortunate incident that nobody planned for.
Police reaction
The Anambra State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said three suspects including the celebrant ‘Bullion Van’ have been arrested and are already in police custody. He said: “We have the three suspects in our custody, we are also waiting for the autopsy to be released, but investigation is ongoing, we will not sweep the case under the carpet,” he assured.