The Enugu State Police Command has arrested a young man identified as Nnamdi Ugwu after he confessed to killing his mother, grandmother, sister and niece for money ritual purposes.
Nnamdi had allegedly poisoned the food prepared by her mother who lived in Amaeze village, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State on September 1, 2024.
Last week when the family finished holding funeral ceremonies of the deceased, Nnamdi, apparently weighed down by guilty conscience, approached elders of his family and confessed how he poisoned his four relations after visiting an herbalist.
In a video clip, Nnamdi, in his early 30s, sat before the elders and other members of the family, and narrated how he poured a poison which was given to him by his herbalist, into her mother’s meal.
He said he had visited the herbalist for a money ritual and that the herbalist had asked him to choose between sacrificing his mother or an animal for the ritual.
However, his family members were thrown into shock when he said that he chose to use his mother for the ritual instead of animals.
It was gathered that Nnamdi poisoned a pot of beans prepared by his mother.
Unfortunately, the woman, identified as Mama Chijioke Amaeze, had brought her ailing mother to her home to care for her.
Same day, Nnamdi’s older sister and niece visited her mother.
All of them were said to have consumed the beans that night before going to bed.
The four victims were reportedly found dead the day after except for the suspect’s second niece, aged about nine years, who survived the food poisoning.
Nnamdi had revealed that a native doctor, who lives in Agbani area of Nsukka but hails from Kogi State, asked him to lace her mother’s meal with the poisonous substance.
He claimed that his friend, identified simply as Morocco, connected him to the native doctor, who prepared the poison for him.
After confessing to the crime and asking for forgiveness, the family and members and other natives of the community, tied palm fronds around his waist, gave him a picture of his mother and other slain family members while parading him round the village.
Nnamdi was later taken to his mother’s tomb where he knelt to beg for her forgiveness.
Afterwards, it was learned that the community handed him over to the police. Also, the native doctor and Morocco were also arrested.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Daniel Ndukwe could not be reached for comments as his phone was not connected.
