Two prosecution witnesses on Tuesday testified before an FCT High Court in the trial of 11 suspects charged with robbery and the murder of an Arise Television news correspondent, Somtochukwu “Sommie” Maduagwu.
The witnesses, who appeared as PW1 and PW2, told the court that they could not identify any of the defendants.
The 11 defendants are facing a nine-count amended charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and murder.
Recall that Maduagwu, a 29-year-old Arise Television correspondent, died on September 29, 2025, after jumping from a three-storey building at her Katampe apartment while attempting to escape an armed robbery.
Giving his testimony, the first prosecution witness, Sani Yusuf, told the court that the incident occurred on September 29, 2025, between 3:00 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. at Unique Apartments, Katampe, Abuja.
Yusuf said he was asleep in his bedroom when he heard voices shouting in Hausa alongside loud banging noises, some of which he believed were gunshots.
“I was asleep when I heard some noise around 2:30 a.m. I then heard voices and a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. I also heard someone speaking Hausa, shouting, ‘Where are you? Come out!” he said.
He told the court that he saw two masked men, one of whom held a torchlight and an object that looked like a knife.
According to him, the men ransacked his apartment, demanded his Samsung Galaxy S25 phone and MacBook Air laptop, and proceeded to check other rooms before leaving.
Yusuf said moments later, he heard a security guard shouting for help.
“The security guard, Musa Joshua, was shouting that the other security guard, Barnabas, had been shot. By that time, the assailants had already left,” he said.
He added that when he got to the ground floor, he saw the body of a female tenant lying face down in a pool of blood, whom he initially assumed had also been shot.
Yusuf said he joined other residents in taking Barnabas to Maitama District Hospital.
“They wanted me to stay back, but I returned to the house in case I was needed. When I later went back to the hospital around 4:00 a.m., I saw the same body I had earlier seen at the house on a gurney. I could recognise her then because she was no longer face down,” he said.
The witness said he discovered that the woman was his neighbour and noticed that she had severe head injuries.
“I went inside to check on Barnabas, but after some time, he died,” he added.
Yusuf told the court that he later returned to the apartment to get means of identification for the bodies of Barnabas and the deceased woman, whom he later learnt was Somtochukwu Maduagwu.
“I recognised her from the estate group chat,” he said.
The second prosecution witness, a female resident of the estate, also told the court that she could not recognise any of the defendants.
She said she was asleep with her aunt and her aunt’s children, including a 14-year-old girl, when the robbers forced their way into their apartment, demanding phones and money.