Detectives at the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Lagos, are quizzing a 23-year-old law student of the University of Lagos, Fisayo Tifase, over the death of his girlfriend, Peace Asukwo, 17, whose corpse was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his one-room apartment at 10, Kalejaiye Street at Shasha in Lagos on November 4.
The suspect and the victim were involved in a love affair, but things came to a head
on that fateful day when they reportedly had an argument. “After telling her that I am no longer interested in the relationship, I left her in the room and she locked herself up,” said Mr Tifase. “I did not know that she can kill herself the way she did by hanging herself in my room. This is a suicide case and people should not think that I killed my girl friend. I love that girl to a point of no return and I can never do anything to hurt her. She killed herself, she sacrificed herself for our love, and this is what I will live with.”
Relationship gone sour
“Before this incident happened, I had been hearing rumours that she was not faithful to me but since I did not have any proof, I decided to let it pass,” he said. “But a day before this thing happened, I called her and she told me that she was at Ikeja to collect N20,000 from a man; that her sister sent her there when it was like 9pm. I called her again and she said she will be spending the night there. So I told her that her sister was using her to get money from men; she denied it and I was angry. The next day, when she came to my room, I tried to avoid her but she would not leave my room. Later that evening, I went into the room and told her that I cannot continue with the relationship anymore; that I do not trust her. She begged and begged, but my mind was made up and she saw that I meant what I said. I asked her to leave but she refused, so I left her in the room. She locked herself from the inside and when I came back to check on her, she refused to open the door. I continued to knock but she did not answer. When it was getting dark, I had to do something so that was how we forced the door open and we saw her body hanging from the ceiling. It was a shock to me and I did not believe my eyes. I just kept shouting. ‘Peace why, why, why’ and that was how people came and the police arrested me.”
Mr Tifase is hinging his hopes on an autopsy, which he believes will convince the police that he did not kill his girlfriend. “I am very angry and sad about Peace’s death and I have never stopped mourning her,” he said.
“I love her and it affected me so badly that my CGPA fell from 4.3 to 4.0 last session. The message she has passed across to me is that she will rather die than lose my love. She paid the ultimate price for our love and I am willing to face any consequence, but God knows that I am innocent. If the police can allow me to swear to any oracle, I can swear to it because I did not hang her. I am learning the hard way. I am supposed to be in school studying and now I am in this mess. Young people should hold on to God and take their studies seriously after that they can look for mature people to share their lives with. For me, if God helps me out of this case, I do not know yet what to do about women. I am psychologically down and it seems I will lose my mind because of the way my girlfriend died. I am now closer to God and I know He will vindicate me”
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