SuperTV CEO’s murder: Witness narrates how he bought deceased’s MacBook Pro

The third prosecution witness in the murder trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, the alleged killer of Michael Usifo, Super TV CEO, Ifeoluwa Olowu, has narrated how he bought a MacBook Pro laptop that belonged to the deceased.

Ifeoluwa, appeared before Yetunde Adesanya, a judge at the Lagos State High Court, to testify in the trial.

Mr Olowu, who deals in the sale and purchase of phones, laptops and accessories, told the court how he bought a Macbook Pro laptop from the 23-year-old defendant, unknown to him the crime that led to the sale of the device.

Mr Olowu said on June 18, Ms Ojukwu visited his store at Computer Village, Ikeja, to sell a MacBook Pro laptop.

The trader said he didn’t question Ms Ojukwu, as she was his customer who bought a phone from him on April 30, then came to sell a laptop to him on June 18.

“She wanted to sell for N600,000, but we agreed to N495,000 which I negotiated from my UBA account to her Sterling Bank account after the forms were filled and the documents in our possession.”

Mr Olowu said days after the sale, the internet was awash with news of Ms Chidinma allegedly killing Mr Usifo and he was able to recognise her on the spot.

When asked by the state lawyer how he conducts sales and purchase of used items from a customer in order to prevent buying stolen property, Mr Olowu said customers are required to submit documents which include a government-approved ID card and must fill a form providing their full names, contact details, serial number and value of the item.

“We do this in order to contact the customer whenever any issues arise. I have never experienced any issue on purchases like this,” he explained.

The witness said when the defendant brought the MacBook for sale, he could not access it initially, but Ms Ojukwu unlocked the device which cleared the doubt of whether she was the owner or not.

“Then I asked for the receipt of purchase of the laptop, she stated that it was a gift from her boyfriend and that she now had two laptops, so she wanted to sell one in order to pay for some bills.

“Then I confirmed the value of the laptop from Apple’s website, I found my mark and market valuation which led to a value of 1000-1,200 dollars. As at that time, the dollar rate was about 400-450 naira per dollar,” he said.

Mr Olowu said when the police from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, invited his manager, Olutayo Abayomi, for questioning, the documents of the transaction helped in clearing their names.

“When I got to the station, I discovered that the case was connected with the purchase of the laptop from Chidinma. We both wrote statements detailing our account in relation to the laptop, we explained to the police how we made a purchase of the laptop and supplied her voters card, and our form containing all relevant information pertaining to her and the laptop.”

Mr Olowu and two others were earlier arraigned at the Yaba Magistrate Court, over the murder of Mr Usifo and for being in possession of the stolen property.

Mr Olowu was, however, exonerated by the Directorate of Public Prosecution, saying he had no case to answer in the murder.

Ms Ojukwu was accused of stealing the deceased’s two iPhones, his MacBook and two ATM cards from which N380,000 was allegedly withdrawn.

Two witnesses had previously testified on the activities of Ms Ojukwu at the apartment where Mr Usifo was murdered.

Following the cross-examination of the third witness, the judge, Mrs Adesanya, adjourned the matter till November 29, for further hearing.

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