The Bayelsa State Police Command has arrested one Joseph Fekala for allegedly killing a 26-year-old lady identified as Kate Ogwoh.
It said that the suspect reportedly strangled Kate to death on Thursday, July 28, 2022 and buried her in a shallow grave in his bedroom at Okaka community in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.
According to the command, 27-year-old Fekala was apprehended on Friday, July 29, 2022 and detained at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.
Speaking during an interview, the Bayelsa Commissioner of Police, Ben Okolo, said that the Homicide Department of the SCIID had been deployed to exhume the corpse.
Okolo said, “It’s unfortunate that this morning we got information that a young man called Joseph Fekala strangulated his girlfriend Kate Ogwoh in the Okaka area. It’s an unfortunate incident.
“We understand that he buried her in his room. We have made an arrangement for the Homicide Section of the State CIID to do the needful by doing proper exhumation in line with police proceedings so that we will ensure that the matter is investigated properly and the suspect faces justice.”
The victim’s father, Dick Ogwoh, said before the suspect’s arrest, his wife told him she called their daughter’s mobile many times but it didn’t connect.
He said that Kate, who was a businesswoman, and the younger sister of Fekala were friends and former schoolmates and she was on a visit to their home when the incident happened.
Ogwoh said they became uncomfortable and suspicious when they could not reach Kate on the phone for a day, which prompted their visit to the suspect’s house.
He said, “My wife called me to say that my daughter’s number was not going through. From morning till evening, the number didn’t connect. My wife told me the boy (Fekala) owed Kate N50,000 and he refused to pay the money. Each time she (Kate) called him, he would not pick his call.
“I asked the boy where my daughter was and he said he didn’t see her. In the process, I asked him the last time he saw her and he said a day before. I asked him what she wore and he said white polo (shirt) and black jean trousers. I asked him when she left the house, he said around 7am. His younger sister is my daughter’s schoolmate.”
He said he was making a complaint to the police when he received a call informing him that the suspect killed their daughter and buried her in a shallow grave in his room.
It was learnt that the suspect was a worker in one of the branches of a mega church in Yenagoa, Bayelsa and was recently promoted to the position of a youth pastor.