A Rivers State High Court yesterday sentenced the Port Harcourt serial killer, Gracious David-West, to death by hanging for the murder of nine young women.
The convict killed his victims in different hotel rooms in the state between July and September 2019 before his attempt to kill his 10th victim identified as Benita Etim triggered an investigation that led to his arrest.
When David-West who hails from Rivers State was apprehended and paraded by the police in September 2019, he confessed to have killed seven young women — one in Lagos, one in Owerri, Imo State, and five in Rivers State.
In his judgement, Justice Adolphus Enebeli found him guilty following diligent prosecution by the state and pronounced a verdict of death by hanging.
Counsel for the convict, Mr. Vincent Chukwu, pleaded for leniency saying the convict is a father of three young children.
However, the prosecution lawyer, Mr. Chidi Ekeh, said David-West did not deserve any leniency as he did not show mercy to his victims and urged the court to ensure justice in the matter.
The second defendant in the case, Nimi ThankGod, a manager of one of the hotels in Port Harcourt where one of the victims was killed, was however acquitted and discharged by the court on grounds that the state prosecution counsel failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offence.
ThankGod, who faced a one-count charge bordering on misconduct with a corpse, was accused of evacuating the corpse of one of the young females killed in her hotel room where she served as a manager and dumped the body at a refuse site along Aggrey Road in Port Harcourt in August, 2019.
How David-West caught?
At the beginning of the case and unrepresented by a counsel, David-West had pleaded guilty to the murders but the judge demanded a trial because of the “gravity of the crime”.
At the time, authorities had suspected that he was working with accomplices but could not find any evidence as the case went to trial.
At the height of the killings in September last year, outraged citizens of Port Harcourt took to the streets, calling on authorities to solve the murders.
He was arrested on 19 September while trying to leave Port Harcourt as investigators closed in on him.
CCTV had captured him leaving a hotel and the circulated photo went viral on social media.
Security agents found him in a commercial bus travelling to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, 45 minutes away from Port Harcourt.
What do we know about the killer?
David-West was born in the fishing town of Buguma in Rivers state, an oil-producing coastal community known for its beaches.
The town has a history with oil militants who operated out of its numerous mangrove swamps at the height of the oil militancy in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in the early 2000s.
Police say David-West was a member of the Greenlanders – also known as Dey Gbam, a mafia-styled street gang that sprung out of the armed militant groups.
Those who know him said he was an only child born into a polygamous home, but he and his mother lived separately from the rest of the family.
He used low-cost hotels, with poor security and without CCTV cameras, in the city centre and on the fringes of Port Harcourt, according to the police.
On one occasion he murdered a sex worker in a brothel in the Rumuola area of Port Harcourt, a known red-light zone in the city.
Who are the victims?
Very little is known about the victims, except for the names of the nine: Maureen Ewuru, Jennifer Nwokocha, Linda Waripa, Dorcas Francis, Blessing Effiong, Rose Samuel, Kelechi Bridget Onuoha, Patience Hamo, Antonia Ibe
Throughout the trial, friends and family members of the deceased never appeared in court, except for the dad of one of the victims who only came on the opening day of the trial.
With The Nation, BBC reports
