At The resumed trial on Wednesday, the prime suspect in the murder of a final-year female student of Kwara State College of Education, Abdulrahman Bello, told the court that he singlehandedly dismembered the body of Hafsoh after consuming alcohol.

Testifying before Justice Hannah Ajayi of the State High Court while opening his defense, the suspect stated that his co-defendants had no involvement in the incident.

Bello further informed the court that he used the knife and cutlass found by police detectives in his two-room apartment at Olunlade, Ilorin, the state capital, to carry out the heinous act.

The suspect, who denied killing the deceased, claimed that Hafsoh died from an asthma attack while gasping during sexual intercourse.

According to him, “I went out to get an inhaler for her when I noticed she was struggling to breathe due to asthma. By the time I returned, she had already died. So, I left my place to drink alcohol and later came back to dismember the body,” he told the court.

During cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the prime suspect admitted that he did not call any of his neighbors to witness the incident, nor did he report the matter to the police or take the deceased’s body to the hospital, saying, “I was afraid of her father.”

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The DPP confronted the suspect with evidence that the drained blood and human parts of the deceased found in his apartment had not decomposed five days after the incident because they had been immersed in alcohol for preservation.

However, Bello denied intentionally keeping the blood and human remains for money-making rituals.

He expressed regret over his actions, stating that he was deeply saddened by the incident.

The prime suspect maintained that he did not kill the deceased, adding that he loved her. “I could never meet anyone like her. She cared about my future. I even told the police that she encouraged me to take the 2024 NABTEB examination and the JAMB form in preparation for the recently concluded exam. She was exceptional in my life.”

Bello further claimed that he was tortured by the police into saying, in a video evidence presented in court, that he had poisoned the deceased’s food and strangled her to death.

All four co-defendants in the case denied any knowledge of the killing when they testified before the court.

Meanwhile, the defense counsels unanimously proposed seven days to file their written addresses concurrently before the court, while the prosecution counsel requested 10 days to file his after receiving the defense counsels’ submissions.

Justice Hannah Ajayi granted the requests and adjourned the matter to July 2, 2025, for the final adoption of addresses.