A 25-year-old female housemaid, Dominion Okoro, who hails from Calabar in Cross River State, yesterday revealed how she used a stool in the early hours of December 2 this year to hit the head of Madam Maria Oredola Igbinedion, 85, the mother of former governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion and killed her.
Okoro, who was employed a year and three months before she allegedly committed the crime, while being paraded at Edo police headquarters in Benin, disclosed that she made away with N100,000, a wristwatch and jewellery from the palatial residence of the Igbinedions at the Government Reserved Area (GRA), Benin.
She said: “I killed Mama (Madam Maria Igbinedion) to carry her money. She did not offend me. While she was sleeping on her bed, around 12:01 a.m. on December 2, 2021, I used a stool to hit her on the head and she was shouting for help, but only the gate man was around and he did not hear the shout. Mama later died.
“I waited till 4 a.m. on December 2, 2021, before leaving the house with Mama’s N100,000, wristwatch, and jewellery. I escaped to Cross River State, but I was later arrested by the police.”
Mama Igbinedion was buried in Benin on December 10, after a funeral service at St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Edo State capital.
The prime suspect’s elder sister, Patience, was first arrested by the police, before Dominion was later nabbed and moved to Benin for thorough investigation.
Patience Okoro said neither she nor their parents in Cross River State knew anything about the crime committed by Dominion.
Edo State commissioner of police, Phillip Ogbadu, revealed that it took time, efforts and money to arrest Dominion, with no fewer than twenty persons first nabbed, before the prime suspect was arrested and she confessed to committing the crime.
