A 30-year-old man, Okpara Chibuike Emmanuel, has told the police in Enugu how he killed his 27-year-old girlfriend, Chinyere Rosemary Ugwu, following an allegation that he infected her with HIV virus.
The suspect recounted the incident in an interview with the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Daniel Ndukwe, which was shared on his social media platforms on Friday.
According to the police, the deceased victim was a graduate of Medical Laboratory Science of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. She recently completed her National Youth Service Corps programme.
Emmanuel said the incident occurred at about midnight on September 19, 2026, after he told her that he had the cure for people living with hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis.
He said she then turned around to accuse him of infecting her with HIV, resulting in an argument and physical fighting between them.
“She held the pestle and started hitting me but I had to withdraw it from her. I hit her which caused her to collapse,” Emmanuel said.
The suspect said he then used a machete to inflict injuries on her wrist, head and neck, resulting in her collapse.
Following her collapse, Emmanuel said he then further used the machete on her.
Asked what he did with the machete, he said, “Yeah, I chopped off the wrist.”
Emmanuel also admitted inflicting more machete cuts on her head and neck.
“I had to just close up the toilets and close the master’s bedroom and locked it up,” he added.
The suspect said he then wrapped his girlfriend’s body in a black nylon bag and moved it to the toilet, where it remained until neighbours broke into the house after perceiving some offensive odour.
He said, “I was weeping, broken-hearted,” after failing to get help from a neighbour he was unable to communicate with.
Emmanuel also admitted that he destroyed his girlfriend’s Samsung phone so it would not be used to trace him.
“I had this fear that people could trace the phone,” he said.
The suspect added that her iPhone had already been switched off before the incident after she complained that it was faulty.
According to Emmanuel, he met Ugwu on Facebook in 2023 and they resumed their relationship after she returned to Enugu in 2026.
He claimed to have been planning to marry her, having spoken with her mother about his plans before the incident.
When asked about his decision to kill his girlfriend, Emmanuel said he was unaware of what he was doing, blaming his action on the influence of some unnamed substance.
“This thing is not actually what I did clearly or intentionally. I wasn’t fully aware of myself first,” he said.
The suspect, however, pleaded for forgiveness and mercy, saying he had been praying to God to have mercy on him concerning the incident.
“I’ve been praying to God for forgiveness and, like, for the fact that this wasn’t actually clearly pure intentional act from my angle, and I’ve been pleading for the government to temper justice with mercy,” he said.
According to the police, the deceased’s parents and siblings had been identified and interviewed by the Commissioner of Police.
He added that the suspect, too, had also been interrogated.
The PPRO disclosed that the Commissioner of police had directed that the investigation be concluded and the suspect charged to court.
The police advised members of the public, particularly young women, to inform trusted people of their whereabouts when going out.
On September 23, Police in Enugu announced Emmanuel’s arrest.
The police said neighbours discovered his girlfriend’s decomposing body after an offensive odour oozed from his apartment, where her decomposing corpse had allegedly been wrapped in nylon and kept in a toilet.
Police said the incident occurred on September 19, adding that the suspect was arrested after being rescued from an angry mob.
