A businessman, Mr Ifeoluwa Oluwo, has narrated how the laptop of the murdered Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Michael Ataga, was sold to him for N495,000 by Chidinma Ojukwu two days after the victim body was found.
Chidinma, a 300-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, was accused of killing Ataga.
The undergraduate and two others, Adedapo Quadri and Chioma Egbuchu, are standing trial before Justice Yetunde Adesanya of the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos State.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Oluwo, the third prosecution witness, was led in evidence by the Lagos State prosecuting counsel, Mr Yusuf Sule.
Oluwo said he was selling phones, laptops and their accessories at the Computer Village, Ikeja, and had been in the business for five years.
According to him, after seeing Chidinma on social media after the sale of the laptop, he immediately ensured that all her documents were kept handy.
The witness identified Chidinma as a customer, who had purchased a phone from him on April 30, 2021 and also sold a laptop to him on June 18, 2021 at the same office.
Oluwo said, “On June 18, Chidinma sold to me a MacBook Pro laptop for N495,000 after negotiations and market value comparison. In order to make a sale, you have to submit some documents and fill a form with your government identification card, driving licence, passport, voter card and National Identification Number.
“You also have to fill a form, which includes email, phone number, house address and full name. It will also contain the full value of the item for that day, the name of the item, and the serial number of the item.
“This is what we do to contact a customer if there are any issues.
“I asked Chidinma to unlock the laptop and she did. So, I conducted my internal observation, which included speed performance, the circle count of the battery and general functionality.
“After that, I proceeded to ask, ‘Do you have a receipt for this laptop?’ She stated that it was a gift from her boyfriend and that she had two laptops and needed to sell one to pay some bills.
“I conducted a check on a website for my market evaluation. I confirmed the value of the laptop. It was $1,000 to $1,200. The exchange rate of dollar at that time was N400 to N450 and she wanted to sell it for N600,000. We were able to negotiate for N495,000, which I initiated from my UBA account to her Sterling Bank account.”
When asked if Chidinma had produced the receipt of the laptop, Oluwo stated that she was not able to provide the receipt as she insisted that it was a gift from her boyfriend.
The prosecution witness added, “After the sale of the laptop, we saw her face on social media regarding a murder case. A few days later, the police from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, invited my manager, Olutayo Abayomi.”
“When I got to the police station, I discovered that it was in connection with the laptop we bought from Chidinma on June 18.
“We both made a statement detailing how we came about the laptop and how we made the purchase.
“We gave the police the documents of the former owner, which included a copy of her voter card, a copy of our form and all receipts, which already had her information regarding the laptop.”
“There is no way we can detect that a phone or laptop was stolen.”
During cross-examination, Chidinma’s counsel, Onwuka Egbu, asked if he was shown any documents, receipts, or proof of ownership to show that the laptop was not for the first defendant at Panti, the witness said he was not shown any.
Justice Adesanya adjourned the case till November 29 for the continuation of trial.
