Geng Quanrong, the Chinese national who made international headlines for allegedly killing his Nigerian ex-girlfriend because of heartbreak, pleaded not guilty to the crime during his re-arraignment on Thursday, according to local reports.
The 47-year-old textile businessman has been charged with culpable homicide for allegedly fatally stabbing his 22-year-old ex-lover, Ummukulsum “Ummita” Buhari, in her shared home in Janbulo quarters, Kano state, on Sept. 16. Earlier reports say he confessed to the crime, saying Buhari had broken her promise to marry him even after he had spent money on her.
Geng’s arraignment has been moved multiple times for various reasons, most recently due to the lack of an interpreter. Under Nigerian law, an accused person has the right to communicate in a language they understand.
On Thursday, the Chinese embassy in Nigeria provided an interpreter, Guo Cumru, to translate English to Chinese for Geng. The suspect pleaded not guilty after the accusations were read to him, the Nigerian Tribune reported.
Prosecutors asked to adjourn the hearing so they can present five witnesses. It is likely that one of them will be Buhari’s mother, who claimed to have witnessed her daughter’s murder.
“He [Geng] always comes around wanting to see her and she has been refusing. This time around when he came, he kept knocking on the door. When I was fed up of him hitting the door loudly, I opened the door and he pushed me aside and got in and started stabbing her with a knife,” Buhari’s mother told Daily Trust. “I started shouting and people came running.”
Judge Sanusi Ado Ma’aji adjourned the case to Nov. 16, Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, according to Vanguard.