7th December, 2018
Okafor Ofiebor /Port Harcourt
It may look weird, but the circumstances of the murder of Ozigie Betty Nwovueze, 32 years old, in Wimpy area of Rumuepricom, Port Harcourt is one of most gory killings in recent times.
Residents watch in awe and bewilderment as detectives from the homicide department of the of the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, exhumed the decomposing body of the deceased.
However, in weird twist, the father of the deceased, Mr. Wilfred Nwovueze, insisted the suspect, Prince Owabie aka J-BOY, must marry her corpse with full traditional marriage rites as the customs and tradition of Ndele people in Emohua local Government area.
Mr. Wilfred Nwovueze, has insisted that Prince Owabie aka J-BOY, the suspected killer of his pregnant daughter, Betty must marry her corpse.
Nwovueze told journalists on Thursday that the marriage was in line with a compulsory traditional rites of Ndele people in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State where the deceased hailed from.
He, therefore, pleaded with security agencies to ensure that justice was done in the killing of his daughter.
“I don’t want any problem. That girl is my daughter and what I want the Police to do is to allow this J-Boy of a man or his family members to marry my daughter before they bury her.
“All the rites that are due any girl of marriageable age in my community will be done so that there will be no calamity,” he said.
In the meantime, the Rivers State Police Command has exhumed the body of Betty Nwovueze, the murdered girlfriend of Prince Owabie in Rumuepirikom, Obio-Akpor Local government area of the state.
Our correspondent in Port Harcourt reports that the brothers of the suspect tipped off Owabie who led the Homicide squad to his room where he buried his girlfriend in a shallow grave.
Nnamdi Omoni, Spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command who was part of the team at the scene said investigation so far showed that the deceased who was suspected to be pregnant, was beaten to death on allegation of infidelity.
The body of the woman was deposited at the morgue awaiting autopsy.