The Lagos State High Court heard on Thursday that 23-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu sold the MacBook pro laptop belonging to the late Super TV boss Usifo Ataga for N495,000.
The third prosecution witness Ifeoluwa Olowu stated this before Justice Yetunde Adesanya in the trial Ms Ojukwu and others are facing over Mr Ataga’s death.
Mr Olowu, who deals in the sale and purchase of phones, laptop and accessories, said on June 18, Ojukwu visited his store at Computer Village, Ikeja, to sell the laptop.
The trader said he didn’t question Ojukwu, as she was his customer who bought a phone from him on April 30, then came to sell a laptop to him on June 18.
“She wanted to sell for N600,000, but we agreed to N495,000 which I negotiated from my UBA account to her Sterling Bank account, after the forms were filled and the documents in our possession.”
Olowu said days after the sale, the internet was awashed with news of Ojukwu allegedly killing Ataga and he was able to recognise her on the spot.
When asked by the state lawyer how he conducts sales and purchase of used items from a customer in order to prevent buying a stolen property, Olowu said customers are required to submit documents which include a government approved ID card, and must fill a form providing their full names, contact details, serial number and value of the item.
“We do this in order to contact the customer whenever any issues arise. I have never experienced any issue on purchases like this,” he explained.
The witness said when the defendant brought the MacBook for sale, he could not access it initially, but Ojukwu unlocked the device, which cleared the doubt of whether she was the owner or not.
“Then I asked for the receipt of purchase of the laptop, she stated that it was a gift from her boyfriend and that she now had two laptops, so she wanted to sell one in order to pay for some bills.
“Then I confirmed the value of the laptop from Apple’s website, I found my mark and market valuation which led to a value of 1000-1,200 dollars. As at that time, the dollar rate was about 400-450 naira per dollar, ” he said.
Olowu said when the police from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, invited his manager, Olutayo Abayomi, for questioning, the documents of the transaction helped in clearing their names.
“When I got to the station, I discovered that the case was connected with the purchase of the laptop from Chidinma. We both wrote statements detailing our account in relation to the laptop, we explained to the police how we made a purchase of the laptop and supplied her voters card, and our form containing all relevant information pertaining to her and the laptop,” he said.
Justice Adesanya adjourned the matter till November 29 for further hearing.
Olowu and two others were earlier arraigned at the Yaba Magistrate Court, over the case for being in possession of stolen property.
Olowu was, however, exonerated by the directorate of public prosecution.
