A 45-year-old man, Eyo Bassey Etim has been remanded in Calabar Custodial Centre after he pleaded guilty to killing a young lady, Miss Edemawan Harmony.

The decomposing body of Miss Edemawan Harmony was discovered in septic tank on Christmas day, December 25, 2022 after she had been declared missing.

GRASSROOT REPORTERS gathered that her hands and legs were tied up.

Justice Rosemary Dugbo Oghoghorie of Court II of the Federal High Court, Calabar ordered that the suspect be remanded till April 18 , 2023.

In charge number FHC/CA/2C/2023, the suspect, Eyo Bassey Etim, pleaded guilty to a two count charge of conspiracy/kidnapping and murder.

The suspect had used the victim’s phone to send a text message to her family in an attempt to conceal the act by making them believe she had travelled to the United States .

The text message read: “I am sorry about what i did to Sir Eyo, his agent sent me the 9 million, money from the sales of his house, I have the money, I’m going to America, I will reach out to you with my new number when I get to the United State…..”.

Background

Bassey and others at large allegedly killed Edemanwan and dumped her corpse in a septic tank in a bid to avoid repaying a loan she gave him.

The deceased body was discovered in the early hours of Christmas Day, after the arrest of the 49-year-old at Ikot Offiong Ambai Community in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state by a tactical unit of the Nigerian Police, the Anti Cultism and Kidnapping Squad (ACKS), also known as the Dragon Squad.

Security sources said the Dragon Squad, led by SP Ogini Chukwuma, swung into action based on a report of the victim’s kidnapping from her residence on Thursday, December 22.

“Based on credible intelligence obtained by undercover agents, the Dragon Squad swung in and arrested the suspect, Mr Eyo Etim Bassey, for allegedly abducting the victim, killing her, and dumping her corpse inside a soakaway since Thursday,” a security source said.

“When the Dragon Squad stormed the residence of the victim, whose name was given as Miss Harmony Edemawan, and found her lifeless body inside the soakaway, they arrested the suspect and then took the deceased body to the mortuary,” the security source added.

It was gathered that Bassey borrowed about one million, two hundred thousand naira (N1.2m) from Edemawan.

Bassey was also said to be dating the victim’s niece, Ruth Edem, 22, a 200-level student at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

A family source said Edemawan, who is also a Lafarge (UNICEM) staffer and the breadwinner of her family, only wanted to help the suspect, Etim Bassey, by supporting him with some money to boost his palm oil business earlier this year.

The family source said: “My sister gave him the money in tranches earlier this year to enable him to boost his palm oil business; it’s about 1.2 million naira.

“It’s been a year, and my sister needed to return the money to where she got it because it’s not her own but the suspect refused—instead, he turned the whole thing around, claiming he gave my sister a house document to sell, and my sister absconded with the proceeds of 9 million naira.

“I last saw my sister on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, then on Thursday, when we spoke on the phone, she told me she was in the bathroom, promising to call me back, but I never heard from her again until the shocking news of her death on Christmas day.”

CP Sule Balarabe, Commissioner of Police in Cross River State, who confirmed the news, said they have a suspect in custody in connection to the abduction of a middle-aged lady, whose remains were later discovered inside a toilet.

CP Balarabe said: “The suspect had earlier given false information that the victim sold his property amounting to about 9 million naira and didn’t want to remit the same amount back to him.”

“So, he contacted some persons to abduct her in a bid to recover the money but she was killed and dumped inside the septic tank.

“We have recovered her body from the septic tank and deposited the same at the mortuary and further investigation is ongoing to unravel the mystery and also arrest other accomplices involved”.