DSP Olusegun Bamidele, a prosecution witness in Chidinma Ojukwu’s ongoing alleged murder trial, told a Lagos State High Court at Tafawa Balewa Square on Monday that during the investigation, they discovered that Super TV CEO Michael Ataga’s drink had been spiked.
Chidinma, a 300-level Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos, is on trial for the alleged offence alongside Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu.
At the previous adjourned date, Bamidele informed the court that during his investigation, Chidinma admitted to spiking Ataga’s drink despite Chidinma pleading not guilty.
The witness stated that he believed the first defendant’s confession.
However, at the resumed hearing on Monday, the witness who was cross-examined by Quadri’s counsel, Mr. Babatunde Busari, was asked to identify where it was written in the first and second defendants’ testimonies that the deceased’s drink was tainted before his murder.
Bamidele responded that it was determined during the investigation.
The witness also told the court that the suspect and the deceased smoked and drank beer together.
He stated that when the first set of drinks ran out, the deceased and Chidinma ordered more.
Bamidele claimed the first defendant mentioned it in her statement.
He claimed a dispatch rider provided the additional material that the suspect and the late Ataga smoked.
The witness, however, stated that all efforts to obtain the evidence from the dispatch rider were futile.
After hearing the cross-examination, Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned the case until February 20 to continue the trial.
On October 12, 2021, the Lagos State Government charged Chidinma and the other two individuals for the murder of Ataga.
The suspect and Quadri are charged with conspiracy, murder, and stabbing on counts one through eight, while her sister, Egbuchu, is charged with taking the late Ataga’s iPhone 7.
