Enugu: Lady Allegedly Murders 9-Year-old Maid, Says She Was Kidnapped
Precious Korshima, a nine-year-old housekeeper, was allegedly brutally beaten by Mrs Ujunwa Ugwuoke, a Nigerian woman.
Mr James Achikpi Korshima, the father of the late nine-year-old Precious, demanded justice for his daughter after describing the horrific murder of his daughter to the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), a human rights organization with offices in Enugu.
Speaking publicly, Mr Korshima, 37, also known as "Jerry B," who is from Benue State's Vandeikya Local Government Area but now resides in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, claimed that Mrs Ujunwa Ugwuoke beat his daughter to death at her home in Enugu's Fidelity Estate.
He claimed that after killing his daughter, she disposed of the body in a bush, after which locals burnt it.
According to Korshima, “Sometimes in March 2022, a business woman Mrs Nelly Okoroafor, who lives in Port-Harcourt, approached me and pleaded with me to release my little daughter, Miss Precious Korshima (9 years old) to train in school through her friend in Enugu, Mrs Ujunwa Ugwoke. She told me that it would be her own little way of helping Precious since I am just an upcoming artist and to also help Mrs Ugwuoke look after her newborn baby.
“I released my little daughter to Mrs Okoroafor, and subsequently, she was sent to Mrs Ujunwa who lives in Fidelity Estate, Enugu. She was living with her until November 10, 2022 when I received a strange phone call from an unknown caller using Mrs. Ujunwa's phone number. The caller claimed that they kidnapped Mrs Ugwuoke, her baby and Precious, my daughter and demanded ransom of 20 million naira.”
“I pleaded with the alleged kidnapper that my little daughter was only a house help and that I had no means of raising such an amount of money. I also appealed to the alleged kidnapper caller that I would get in touch with the family of Mrs Ujunwa. Like I promised, I got in touch with Mrs Ujunwa's family and the husband who lives abroad. To my greatest surprise they all feigned ignorance of the alleged kidnap,” he explained.
Korshima went on to say that Mrs Ugwoke and her own daughter were purportedly liberated from the kidnapper's cave in an odd turn of events, and his child Precious was allegedly murdered, according to Mrs Ujunwa.
He said that he reported the incident right away to the Enugu New Haven Police Station's DPO, who later claimed that the case had been forwarded to the Enugu Police command's Anti-Kidnapping Squad unit.
“It was after some days at the anti-kidnapping base that Mrs Ugwuoke admitted that she beat Precious to death and dumped the corpse off Port-Harcourt Expressway immediately after the military checkpoint after the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu,” he narrated.
Korshima went on to say that when the police arrived at the scene, they discovered that the Igwe of the community had given the order for the youth to burn his daughter's decomposing body due to the offensive odor from the body. “The Igwe did this illegal act without informing security agents of the presence of the corpse in his domain.”
However, the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN) demanded a thorough investigation while requesting that the case be transferred to the homicide section of the State Criminal and Investigation Department (State CID), of the State command, in a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Police Command, which was copied to the Inspector General of Police and Enugu state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
"We submit that this is a clear case of murder and the investigation of the case has nothing to do with the Anti-Kidnapping Base," CRRAN said in the petition, which its president, Olu Omotayo, signed.
“We urge you to immediately order that a thorough investigation of this heinous crime be carried out by the Homicide section of the State Criminal and Investigation Department (State CID), of the State Police Headquarters, Enugu.
“Ujunwa Ugwuoke killed the little child in a cruel and barbaric way and dumped the corpse in the bush while the Igwe in question completed the unlawful act by ordering the burning of the corpse.”
“We join Mr Korshima and Mr Terfa Kaaimo, the President of the Tiv Community in Enugu to Demand Justice in this case. The killers should be made to face the full wrath of the law.”