Ifezue Chiamaka, the prime suspect in the murder of Enugu Make-Up artist, Ijeoma Nneke opened her defence after she pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against her on Wednesday, 11th January, 2023 before Justice K.i Okpe of the state High Court, independence layout Enugu.
Miss Ifezue who was accused of killing the deceased after she invited her (late Ijeoma Nneke) for a makeup job on November 11th, 2020, took the court by storm when she mentioned for the first time, that she wasn’t the one that invited late Ijeoma for the make up job.
“I wasn’t the one that invited her for the job, my friend, Nkiru did but didn’t show up for the job and is nowhere to be found since then till date,” miss Ifezue said during her cross-examination by Barrister Chigbo C.C from Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Asked why she was the one that made the arrangement for the taxi that brought late Ijeoma, the suspect said she never made any arrangement of such, rather, it was her friend, Nkiru that made the arrangements that she only spoke to a taxi driver and sent her friend’s (Nkiru) number to the taxi driver.
The prosecutor however countered her claim by her (Ifezue) statement in Exhibit E line 7-8 in which she said she got a taxi driver and showed him (the taxi driver) where to drop late ijeoma.
Miss Ifezue while maintaining her position that she never invited the deceased for the job said her friend who was going for a dinner party needed her service and she knows nothing about the dinner party her friend who wanted to use her house to do the make-up wanted to go to.
The prosecutor went further to ask the accused why she gave the taxi driver a 9mobile phone number 08096349552 to call when she gets to her house, Miss Ifezue said the number belongs to her Friend Nkiru and it was given to the driver for both of them to communicate.
The prosecutor went on to ask the accused why she was the one that paid for the taxi fare through her houseboy; Matthew Francis, Miss Ifezue said her friend called her that the makeup artist was at the gate and that she should help her to pay the fare.
Asked what the makeup bag of the victim was doing in her house, she said that the bag belongs to her (Miss Ifezue) and she can identify all the items in the box because it belongs to her. She further stated that every woman has a makeup bag and she has one too.
But her argument about a makeup bag was punctured by the prosecutor who referred her to a section of the statement she made to the police which was admitted by the court as Exhibit ‘E’. In the statement, she said she put the deceased makeup bag in the trunk of her (Miss Ifezue) car.
The Prosecuting counsel told the court that the suspect through her counsel never objected to the ownership of the makeup bag when it was admitted as an exhibit, and described her current position as an afterthought.
On the possible reason for the crime (which is that the deceased snatched the accused boyfriend from her), Miss Ifezue admitted to taking a blood oath with the guy in question; Chidiebere Okpara but it’s not true that the guy broke up with her because she was the one that called off the relationship and wasn’t aware of he went into a new relationship because she wasn’t in constant communication with him.
“It’s true that we took blood oath, which Chidiebere initiated but its not true that he broke up with me, I broke up with him and I wasn’t aware he was in any relationship because I wasn’t in constant communication with him.”
The prosecutor also queried the suspect on using her houseboy to resister a lot of simcards including the one used in arranging the make up job, but she denied same insisting that her houseboy only registered her airtel line for her which she uses in her mifi and has never used it for making of calls.
The matter was adjourned to March 8th, 2023 for adoption of defence.
