Man Explains Why He Buried Ex-Customs Official & Daughter Alive

The Lagos State Police Command on Monday paraded a
64-year-old native doctor, Alhaji Olatunji Azeez, who confessed to have killed
a retired customs officer, Mrs. Angela Kerry, and her 10-year-old adopted
daughter, Obiagulum, on May 10, 2014.

PUNCH Metro had reported on Monday that the decomposed
bodies of the woman and her daughter were found in Azeez’s house in Ire Akari
Crescent, Ajuwon Akute, Ogun State by operatives of the Lagos State Special
Anti-Robbery Squad. The police subsequently marked the building as a
kidnapper’s den.

Azeez, an Oyo State indigene with three wives and five
children, said he was forced to kill the customs officer and her daughter after
she threatened to kill him over a sum of money.

He explained, “I have been a trado-medical doctor for about
30 years, but I knew Angela over five years ago. She initially came to me for
protection from family attacks. One of her friends called Lizzy introduced her
to me. The relationship began to grow, and she kept patronising me for one
thing or the other.

“Then, about three years ago, she mentioned her barreness
problem, adding that the daughter that was with her was adopted. I was shocked.
But when she told me her age, I told her it was impossible to make her
pregnant. But she insisted that prophets in the churches she went had assured
her she would get pregnant.”

Our correspondent learnt that Azeez later lied to the woman
that she would get pregnant and collected N9m from her for the job.

Azeez added, “I did the normal concoction for her, but it
didn’t work because of her age. But I collected the money because I knew if I
did not, she would go to where they would collect it. After some months without
result, she came to my place to complain. She then demanded a refund, but I told
her that I could not repay it. She then began to threaten me. Within a month, I
tried to repay N2.5m. On that fateful week, she came back for the remaining
N6.5m.

“It was Saturday, May 17. She came with her daughter and
insisted that she wanted her balance. She said as a retired customs officer,
she could kill me if I didn’t pay back the money. Then I thought, I must kill
this woman before she killed me. The hole at the back of my house was not built
for killing. It was dug for drainage during rainfallss.”

Azeez added that he went to the backyard, covered the hole
with a white cloth that Angela normally saw in another shrine in his house.

He said, “After we talked, we moved with her daughter to the
place. I said she should kneel down on the mat with her daughter. She did so
and fell into the pit with her daughter. The operation was successful because
no member of my family was around in the house.

I then began to cover the pit up with sand. I poured in
roughly 50 buckets of sand. The following day, I got two bricklayers to cement
the portion. But I had first taken out the belongings she brought.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, stated
that the police had concluded their investigations on the case, adding that the
native doctor was going to be charged to court for murder.

He said, “The woman and her daughter were reported missing
on May 10 at the Oko Oba Police Division by the family.

“Azeez was eventually arrested through a tracking device
installed on the victim’s Toyota Camry. Azeez, an herbalist, had hypnotized the
woman for a long time. He had taken over N200m from her both in cash and
property. We discovered he cleverly constructed a well in his house, lured the
woman with her daughter into the room, and buried them alive.

“We were able to recover the decomposed bodies of the
victims from the well. We also picked their property which was buried along
with them. We have finished our investigations, and he will be charged to court
for murder. We will leave the rest to be decided by the court.”

Culled from Punch