How I found bodies of 89-yr-old grandmother, daughter - Security guard tells court

Asecurity guard, Dahiru Musa, yesterday told the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, how he discovered the bodies of an 89-year-old grandmother, Adejoke John, and her 36-year-old daughter, Oreoluwa John, who their new house-help, Joseph Ogu, allegedly murdered two days after they employed him.

The police had docked Ogu on October 22, but he pleaded not guilty to the three-count criminal charge bordering on murder and stealing levelled against him.

Musa, who is the star prosecution witness in the trial, told Justice Modupe Nicoclay that two days after the defendant's employment, he saw him about 2.15am when he (Ogu) opened the gate and was about to drive out the grandmother’s car.

The witness said when he queried the defendant on why he was driving the car out at that hour, he replied that it was the old woman who had sent him on an errand somewhere.

Musa, who claimed to have known his octogenarian employer since 1984, added, "I challenged him again, telling him Mama couldn't have sent him on an errand at that time."

The security guard, who was led in evidence by the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, said that he held on tight to the defendant, collected the car keys from him and led him back into the house.

When asked how many occupants were in the apartment apart from him and Ogu, the witness replied there were only two, Mama and her daughter, who Ogu allegedly also stabbed to death.

Musa narrated, "I and the defendant climbed the stairs to the upper floor, where Mama's apartment was, and entered the parlour. But it was scattered, all the drawers were pulled out and their contents scattered all over the floor. Then I started shouting ‘Mama, Mama’, but nobody answered me. I then asked the defendant to take me to where Mama was. When I entered Mama's room, I saw her body on the floor.

"At that point, I turned the defendant round and tied his hands behind him, tied his legs and also gagged his mouth, and watched him closely until the morning, when I handed him over to the police".

The witness said four phones, four Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and a big plasma television were found in the boot of the car the defendant was attempting to drive out.

During the defendant's arraignment, the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Yaqub Oshoala, had told the court that Ogu committed the alleged offence on June 19, 2019 at 4, Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos, at about 9.30pm.

Oshoala alleged that Ogu strangulated Adejoke John to death, and also killed Oreoluwa John by stabbing her.

Justice Nicoclay adjourned the case till January 23, 2020 for continuation of trial.