Chidinma Ojukwu, the 23-year-old ex-Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, on Monday told a Lagos High Court that the laptop and phones allegedly stolen from the late CEO of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, were in fact her personal belongings.
The defendant, who is standing trial alongside Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu, on charges of murder, theft, and forgery, continued her testimony before Justice Yetunde Adesanya at the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square Annex.
Taking the stand, Chidinma stated that although the deceased had a MacBook Pro 13-inch (2020 model), she owned a MacBook Pro 16-inch, Core i7 (2019) with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, in addition to an HP laptop. She identified one of the laptops presented in court as hers and claimed it was part of the items seized by police after her arrest.
“I did not steal Ataga’s laptop. The one I tried to sell belonged to me. A man named Mr. Fredrick gave it to me as a gift. I haven’t heard from him since I was arrested,” she told the court, adding that the receipt for the laptop got missing during the police search.
She further disclosed that she had visited a computer store on June 18, 2021, to attempt a sale of the laptop, and not because it belonged to the deceased.
Addressing claims about stolen phones, Chidinma said she had an iPhone 11 Pro and an iPhone Xx with her at the time of the incident, while an iPhone 7 was at home. She acknowledged losing receipts for some of her phones but tendered the receipt for the iPhone Xx, which was admitted into evidence as Exhibit P25. She also confirmed ownership of a bag containing her phone, ATM cards, voter’s card, sanitary pad, and other personal effects.
On the forgery charges, the defendant denied falsifying any documents. She told the court, “The two bank statements found by the police belong to me. They are genuine. I also have my original driver’s license and international passport. The one bearing the name ‘Mary Johnson’ is not mine.”
The court admitted the disputed documents as exhibits and adjourned the matter to October 6, 7, 8, 14, 16, 20, and 27 for continuation of trial.
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