■ Police in P’Harcourt nab prime suspect, 3 accomplices at large
Just as the blood of the biblical Abel cried unto God after Cain murdered him out of jealousy, nemesis has caught up with 27-year-old Prince Reuben, a land dealer in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, who allegedly conspired with three others now at large to murder a female trader.
Until her tragic demise, Ms. Joy Saturday, was a hardworking single mother of four and trader, who had previously bought a plot of land from Reuben, for which she paid N250,000 in cash. The success of that first transaction made her express interest in purchasing another plot from him.
Joy, therefore, had no premonitions of an evil intent by Reuben, when he called on the phone and he said she should come to inspect another plot of land he had for sale.
Earlier on the fateful day, before leaving home for the days’ business, she bade her children goodbye with an assurance to see them later in the evening, but she never returned home.
So, at the time the Reuben’s call came, Joy was still busy and pleaded that he should postpone the meeting till evening to enable her close for the day.
At the end of the day’s business, Joy called Reuben again and he directed her to the location where the perceived land was located.
She took a cab to the place. On getting to the land, Reuben welcomed her and took her into the bush for the inspection.
But unknown to Joy, Reuben had conspired with three of his friends namely Nwaba, Promise and Chinedu to kill her. His accomplices hid from sight in the bush, waiting for the right moment.
When Reuben and Joy got to the place, the three other conspirators jumped out from their hiding and pounced on the woman. They abducted and took her farther into the bush.
Reuben who was later arrested by the police, after diligent investigation by police detectives recounted what happened when they abducted the woman:
“When we got there, we tore her clothes, removed her pant and raped her, all of us. After raping her, my friend then shot her with a locally made gun. It was my friend Nwaba that shot her. Chinedu was the person that brought the acid which we poured on her body. Then they told me that they have a forest where they will dispose of her corpse and I said okay, no problem and they went and disposed her corpse. But later they came and arrested me.
“My friends ran away and left only me to suffer. I feel bad now about everything that happened to the woman. It was not my intention to kill her because she bought land from me and paid in cash. I thought I could make more money from her; that was why I deceived her into believing that I have another land for sale. I never knew it would end like this; my friends actually pushed me into it.
“When we took her into the bush, we seized her bag from her, searched it and found only N20,000. We took it believing that we could get more. I don’t even know why we raped her. I really regret my actions and feel very, very bad about the whole thing.”
Sunday Sun learnt from the police that it took a lot of hard work by police detectives before operatives from the Special Tactical Squad (STS) eventually caught up with Prince Reuben, the the prime suspect.
It was further gathered from the police that the body of Joy had been found and recovered from the bush.
Meanwhile, the police are still on the trail of Nwaba, Chinedu and Promise who are on the run.
The police have appealed to anyone with useful information, especially the people of Olapo in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State where the suspects hail from, to come forward and assist the squad.
Credit: Daily Sun