Salem Chigozirim, a pastor with The Apostolic Church, Umuahia, has been charged with strangling a 45-year-old housewife, Virginia Ndife, and another lady, Chioma Nwoke, before a High Court in Umuahia, Abia State.

According to Punch, the guy was charged with three charges of attempted murder and extortion.

Chigozirim was accused of strangling Virginia on September 21, 2021, according to a police report. Mr Christian Ndife, the deceased’s husband, claimed his wife went to their new house on 67, Agulu Street, Umuahia, on the day of the event to perform some work with the suspect, who was also a plumber. Christian claimed that he was at his family’s home when his daughter informed him that his wife had been murdered.

“I dashed to the house, only to find my wife’s lifeless body. I informed the cops and the DSS. The culprit was apprehended by the DSS after two weeks.”

My wife was strangled in the neck with a blue bathing sponge, and the entire room was scattered. The defendant scribbled something on a piece of paper and tossed it on the ground, claiming that he was looking for certain documents, and when he called my wife, she instructed him to “do his worst.”

He said he had done some plumbing work for my wife and that he was looking for his keke documents. He also sent the same message to my brother-in-law, Anthony Okeke,” the deceased’s husband stated.

Chigozirim was claimed to have confessed to the prior killing of Chioma in August 2021 while being interrogated by the DSS.

Mrs Clementina Nwoke, a member of Chigozirim’s church, said she was notified on August 20, 2021, that her daughter, who lived in Owerri, Imo State, had gone missing for a week.

“I began hunting for her at the DSS offices in Umuahia and Owerri. Later, I received a message from my daughter’s phone telling me that I needed to pay N1.5 million. I was requested to offer N50,000 by the DSS; I offered N100,000. He (suspect) called me from Mbgoko Amiri in Obingwa LGA, using my daughter’s phone.

When I arrived, a voice told me to where I should put the money. I dropped the money at the foot of the pole I was told to, despite the fact that I couldn’t see the person.

I inquired about my kid, and he stated that I would see her at Umuikea Junction after dumping the money. On September 7, 2021, something occurred. I didn’t see my daughter when I arrived at Umuikea Junction.

The DSS asked me to show them the picture of Chioma in the end of September, and then invited me to Umuahia, where I met two of my pastors, and we all went to our apostle at the World Bank Estate in Umuahia,” the distressed mother explained.

She claimed that some of the church officials then informed her that Chioma’s decomposing body had been discovered in Mbano, Imo State. Mrs. Nwoke claimed that her daughter was strangled and “placed upside down at the foot of a tree.”

She claimed that after the suspect was apprehended for Virginia’s murder and his home was searched, he was found with Chioma’s phone and ATM card, as well as a large sum of money from her daughter’s bank account.

The lawsuit has been postponed until May 24, 2022.

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