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The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has finally tracked and arrested
Henry Silas, the 28yrs old artisan who allegedly killed a pathologist,
Dr. Ivy Umana, of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, at her home
in the Shelter Afrique axis of Uyo.
The female doctor was to supervise undergraduate medical students on the day she was murdered.
Her
colleagues were said to have called her through telephones, but could
not get her to speak with them except a senior colleague, Dr. Festus
Abasiubong, who received a text message from Umana’s phone requesting
that the sum of N20,000 should be given to Silas.
Abasiubong and his other colleagues went to Umanah’s house where they met her lifeless body.
The
Police PRO in the state, Cordelia Nwawe, said on Monday that
Commissioner of Police, Murtala Mani, had promised to fish out the
killer of the pathologist.
CP Mani stated that Silas was arrested on May 13 in Aba, Abia State, where he escaped to after committing the murder.
The
CP said, “That the said Silas confessed to the crime and stated that he
used motor vehicle iron to hit the deceased on her head which caused
her death.
“He claimed that the killing was as a result of the
disagreement he had with the deceased over payment of N100,000, which he
used in buying materials, including money charged for the work.
“That
Dr. Festus Abasiubong, also of the UUTH, was the person who introduced
him to the deceased to do work for her. That sometime last year (2015),
he did designing work in Dr. Festus Abasiubong’s house at Ikot Ntuen
village along Abak Road, Uyo.”
Mani said it was established that
the aim of the text messages Silas sent to Abasiubong’s cell phone was
to create confusion about the whereabouts of the deceased and to divert
the attention of her colleagues.
Silas Confessed
He said “I was the one that killed her. We had an agreement on a job,
which required that I use my money to start. She asked me to start the
job that as soon as I start, she would give me the money. I started the
job on Monday. I bought materials and she said that when she returned
from office, she would give me the money.
“When I was about
leaving the site, I called her, and she said that she was not coming
back to the site that day. So, I left, I later called her on Tuesday, in
which she asked me to come back on Wednesday morning.
“I went
there on Wednesday at 7:30am. I waited for her for a long time to come
out and open the gate for me. She later opened the gate for me after I
repeatedly knocked at the gate.
“She started complaining that I
was disturbing her. She was behaving as if she was not going to pay me
for the job. And I asked her why she was behaving as if she was not
going to pay me.
“The next thing she did was to slap me, pushed
me away and closed the door. I fell and with the annoyance, I saw iron
beside me, I used it to hit her on her head and she fell and died.”
The police said Silas will be charged to court accordingly.