David West was in court on Wednesday, 29 July together with second defendant, Nimi ThankGod in continuation of their trial. The day was for the adoption of final written addresses which did not take place moving the presiding judge to adjourn the case to 14 August.
Gracious David West is facing trial for the alleged murder of women in hotels in Port-Harcourt and other cities across Nigeria. He faces ten counts – nine of murder and one attempted murder.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges although earlier on he said he was guilty of nine counts of murder and not guilty of one of attempted murder.
From Buguma in Rivers State, David West was arrested by the police on 19 September, 2019 along East-West Road on his way to Akwa Ibom State.
He denied killing the women whom he allegedly took to hotels in Port-Harcourt and in other cities.
A prosecution witness however told the Port-Harcourt High Court presided by Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli of how David West allegedly killed his victims.
The prosecution witness, Sergeant Ogbomudia Emegbokuro, who was of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) told the court that the alleged serial killer tied and strangled his victims.
He said this was part of findings from investigation carried out by SARS as ordered by the Commissioner of Police in the state.
On Wednesday’s sitting, the prosecution and defence counsels were to adopt their final written addresses in which they were to finally argue their cases but this was not to be.
A representative of the prosecuting counsel told the court that they were not ready as counsel to second defendant had only served them the day before. The judge had told second defendant’s counsel to serve the prosecution on time and had adjourned.
While giving his findings in court on 14 February, Sergeant Emegbokuro said that the accused serial killer not only tied and strangled his victims but also took their belongings. He said the items ranged from their handbags, phones to jewelry including cash. He had said David West used kitchen knife to threaten and get ATM passwords from his victims with which he withdrew money from their bank accounts.
The prosecution also played a video footage in court on 23 March which showed the accused serial killer and one of his victims at hotel premises in Port-Harcourt. The footage was allegedly captured by CCTV camera at the hotel premises and after it was played the prosecuting counsel asked David West if he was not the one in the video but the accused serial killer said that he was not the one.
The proceedings were stalled on 17 January when the counsel to David West failed to appear in court. Vincent Chuku failed to appear in court and seemed not to have contacted the court over his absence and that appeared to upset the judge who said that the counsel could not withdraw from the case at that point.
The counsel had made appearances for his client and in one of such occasions said that police were holding sum of sixty thousand naira (N60,000.00) allegedly belonging to his client.
He told the court that his client would need the money and this prompted the presiding judge to order the prosecuting counsel to reach out to the police over the money which they allegedly took from the suspect at time he was arrested.
David West was arrested on 19 September 2019 by security operatives. He was on his way to Akwa Ibom State.
When he opened his defence on 14 February, he had said that he was innocent of the crimes levelled against him.
Led in evidence in-chief by his counsel, the accused serial killer who spoke from witness box said that he did not kill any woman.
He said that he was on his way to Akwa Ibom State when he was arrested by a team of policemen.
David West said that he told the policemen who asked for his identity that he was a phone technician and computer repairer and also said he was from Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The accused serial killer said he was arrested and later searched by the team of policemen who found on him the sum of sixty thousand naira, two phones and a bag.
The accused serial killer said that the policemen collected the items and took him to Bori Police Station from where he was moved to the state police headquarters and was interrogated by the Commissioner of Police.
He said that he told the police commissioner that he knew nothing about the allegations made against him.
David West said he was moved to Rukpokwu Police Division and was asked about the allegations in the SARS Unit.
He continued with his defence on 21 February alleging that SARS operatives threatened him when they took his statement in their office.
He said that they took him to a small room and threatened to kill him unless he would tell the truth.
He alleged that he made statements six times and also alleged SARS operatives chased away a lawyer who came to see him.
At one sitting he told the court he had nothing to apologize for. As a result, he said he did not need any opportunity to apologize to the public for whatever crime they allege he committed.
He was giving evidence and said that he had no hand in the death of the women whom the police image-maker put at 17.
He had said that he was forced by SARS operatives to go to the hotels they took him to and said that he never led them to the hotels.
He said that they visited eight hotels but added that he did not lodge in any of the hotels neither did he show SARS operatives hotel rooms he had stayed in. He also said that it was the receptionists in the hotels who allegedly showed SARS operatives rooms he stayed in.
He said that SARS operatives took him from one hotel to another.
When the prosecution started a line of questioning why he had pleaded guilty and then not guilty to the charges, David West said that he did not know what the court was doing.
The counsel to David West said that his client could be in “different temperament of mind” when he pleaded guilty and then not guilty to the charges.
He however said whether his client pleaded guilty or not was not before the court anymore as the prosecution had amended their charge and said that the burden was on the prosecution to prove him guilty.
“During the course of trial, the defendant may not really know what he is doing…He may be in a different temperament of mind to say what he want(s) to say. Sometimes(s), he may not even understand what he’s saying. So even (if) he pleads guilty, he will not be presumed to have pleaded guilty (as) the court will still go on to review the evidence and then find out that actually he’s guilty”, he said.
“That proceeding of whether he pleaded guilty or not is not before the court any longer because the prosecution amended their charge and (the) issue now is the present proceeding. A reference to the earlier proceedings whether he pleaded guilty or not is immaterial and cannot be used by the court and the burden was on the prosecution to prove.”
The prosecution closed his case on 14 February after calling eight witnesses.
“We’ve closed our case because the trial began some months ago and we’ve been calling our witnesses so, today we formally closed the case of the prosecution. We announced to the court that we have closed our case. We don’t have any further witness to bring and so the defence opened its case today with the evidence in- chief of the Pw1, “he said while speaking with newsmen.
The witnesses who testified said the accused serial killer committed the crimes.
The counsel to the second defendant, Lezina Amegua, also spoke to newsmen after closing his case.
“We intend not to continue with further witnesses but to close our defence altogether and that is what we’ve just done and the court has also taken that into consideration”, he told newsmen.
At a point in the trial the presiding judge said that the case was generating interest in Nigeria and overseas and said that the image of the country was at stake.
He had also said on 29 July that the press had right to cover the proceedings, according to the country’s Constitution.
David West faces nine counts of murder and one of attempted murder. The second defendant, Nimi ThankGod, faces one count of misconduct with corpse.
She is accused of indecently interfering with the corpse of one of the victims and treating it with indignity by removing and dumping it in a dumpsite from her Torox hotel where she was manager.
The prosecuting counsel, Chidi Ekeh, told newsmen that she was included in the charge when the Rivers State government took over the case from the State Police Command.
“There is a second person to the charge. That person is not being charged for the offence of murder but for misconduct with corpse. A corpse was found under the bed in one of the rooms in their hotel (and) rather than report to the police or any (other) authority to create awareness … what they did was to conceal that fact (as they) looked for a black nylon, packed the corpse of the deceased and went and dumped it at the dustbin. So we filed the charge (and) included her as the second defendant (for her) to come and tell the world why they did what they did,” he said in a news interview.
But like the first defendant who pleaded not guilty, the second defendant, a middle-aged lady, also pleaded not guilty when the one count charge was read.
Nimi ThankGod faces one count of misconduct with corpse. She was the manager of Torox Hotel in the Town Axis of Port-Harcourt.
David West who is the first accused was brought to court on a Monday after the state government took over the case from the state police command.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, who was prosecuting for the state told the court that the state government took over the case on 22 October, 2019 with the police providing no evidence against the accused.
He said that he received the case file from the police and made an application in court to withdraw the original charge and replace it with a fresh charge.
He said at the time that the state government was charging David West and a second suspect – named Nimi ThankGod – with serial murder and said the state government had enough evidence against them.
Justice Enebeli had granted the prosecuting counsel’s motion to replace the original charge with a fresh charge against the accused persons.
The prosecuting counsel had told newsmen that he studied the case file against the accused persons and was convinced that it revealed a prima facie case against them.
“We studied the case file and were convinced that the case file discloses prima facie case against the accused person and another person, one Nimi ThankGod. We have prepared fresh information together with proof of evidence as required by law. Both of them are charged as accused persons in the proceedings. The police charged only Gracious but from the case file we realized that the second person ought to have been charged and that second person is ThankGod Nimi, so we are charging her together with Gracious David West,” he said at the time.
He said that the 10-count charge was with proof of evidence.
“What proof of evidence means is that all the statements made by prospective witnesses and even the statements made by the accused persons themselves are put together as a bundle of document… That’s what we’ve done and that’s what our law requires us to do,” he added in an interview with reporters.
After David West was arrested, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Frank Mba released a statement.
“The notorious serial killer, Gracious David West was today September 19, 2019 arrested by the police in Rivers. The 26-year-old killer from Buguma of Rivers State who is also a member of the Degbam cult group was arrested along East-West Road en route to Uyo from Port-Harcourt”, the statement said.
The police image-maker also said that investigation was going on with a view to “ascertaining his motives and possible accomplices”.
The then Commissioner of Police, CP Mustapha Dandaura, said at a news conference that the killings had the “element of cultism” and also said that the same method was used by the perpetrator to kill his victims.
When the matter came up on 29 July for adoption of final written addresses, the court found that the prosecuting counsel was not ready and the presiding judge, Hon. Justice Enebeli adjourned the case to 14 August for adoption of the written addresses.
As that happens, the presiding judge is expected to announce a date for judgement in which he will decide whether the accused persons are guilty or not guilty.
The counsel for first defendant, Vincent Chuku complained at the last sitting that his client was assaulted by prison officials. David West himself told the court that he was assaulted by the prison officials. He said that he was slapped by officials of the correctional facility and even tried to show the judge one of his teeth which he said was broken as a result of the attack.
His counsel who spoke to newsmen about the alleged attack said: “Even if the punishment is death, will they kill him before the conviction?”
