•I sneaked into her house at 3am, hid till 5pm before killing her – Suspect
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Calamity recently befell the family of the former director of administration, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Mrs. Amamu Jumbo. She was murdered by her former security guard, identified as John Danjuma, on the evening of Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at her residence in the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Phase 3, Port Harcourt.
The suspect, who is now in police net, has confessed to killing his former boss, whom he served as a private security guard, popularly known as maiguard, at her residence in GRA in the state capital.
Danjuma perpetrated the dastardly act less than 48 hours after his release from detention, after securing bail from the court.
He was accused of stealing $10,000 from his madam. He was arrested, detained, charged to court and later granted bail.
Two days to when the case of alleged theft was to be heard in court, he went to the house of his former boss, broke the kitchen protectors, entered the house and allegedly slaughtered her. A source, who was identified as Dolapo Tella Attoni, the victim’s in-law, gave an account of what happened.
Attoni said: “I left a murder scene at about 11pm yesterday (Tuesday) for the mortuary. Yesterday, an in-law of mine was murdered by her former security guard who was already standing trial in respect of theft of her properties, including cash. She (deceased) was to testify against him in court this morning.
“Soon after he was granted bail by the Rivers State magistrate’s court hearing the case, he began to plot her elimination. So, yesterday, he gained access to her residence sat GRA by scaling the fence and squeezing through the guestroom toilet of the house to strike.
“Armed with a sharp machete, he launched a surprise attack, striking her neck and head severally.”
Earlier the same day, the suspect killed the lady that recommended him to Jumbo (victim) for employment: “Unfortunately for him, he was caught while trying to escape with items stolen from the residence and the blood of the victim was all over his body. Having been caught at the scene, he has since confessed to committing both murders.”
Daily Sun gathered that the suspect would have been lynched when he was caught by youths in the neighbourhood but for the prompt intervention of one of the security details attached to a notable government official, who handed him over to the police.
A resident of Amaechi Drive, GRA Phase 3, Port Harcourt, who gave his name simply as Dickson, in an interview with a journalist, narrated how the suspect was apprehended after killing Mrs. Jumbo.
Dickson said: “That Tuesday evening, there was downpour. I was in a salon in a building before the (deceased) woman’s compound, waiting for the rain to stop. Some people were there too.
“So, when we were there, we started hearing ‘Thief, thief.’ We ran out and found out that the guy (Danjuma) was trying to jump the fence. But, he could not jump. He decided to follow another road.
“Getting there, we saw that other people had already arrested him before we reached there. People wanted to kill him, but the security men attached to a senior man in government came out and said they should not beat him.
“We did not know he had killed someone. We thought it was robbery or stealing issue. Reaching there, we saw that it was John Danjuma who was working with the woman (deceased) as a security guard.”
Dickson said the crowd were bewildered when he said repeatedly that he had killed a woman. He said: “What came out from his (Danjuma’s) mouth while we were there was, ‘I killed her. I killed her’.
“We asked him, who did you kill? He repeated, ‘I killed madam’. Everybody was shocked. We did not believe until we took him to the police station. The security personnel of the big man in government took Danjuma to police station, while we followed them in our own vehicle to the police station at Abacha Road.
“The DPO and other police officers came to the woman’s compound with the help of other security. When we came in, the girl there was crying, shouting. We found our way through the fence into the compound.
“So, we opened the door. A policeman went into the room and found out that the woman was dead. She was in a pool of blood, with machete cuts on her head and neck.”
Dickson said during interrogation at the police station, the suspect said he was inside the woman’s compound since 3am that fateful day, monitoring the situation of things in the compound before he got his way. He said during police interrogation, the suspect disclosed that it was during the downpour that he stabbed the woman to death. Danjuma was arrested at 6pm.
Meanwhile, in a viral video showing the suspect being interrogated, apparently by policemen, he admitted committing the crime.
Danjuma said: “All the time I was there, she (victim) did not see me. I was there from 3am till evening when I killed her.”
He added that throughout the hours he was in the compound waiting for the appropriate time to strike, it was only a bottle of soft drink he took.
“All the time I was there, I was seeing her passing. I took the cutlass from her kitchen. And after I killed her, I went and kept it at the back of the door.
“The truth about what happened is that, two of us have issue in court. And our judgment is coming next tomorrow (Thursday), because they are prosecuting me for $10,000. And that money, I did not steal it.
“Throughout the time I was in the compound, nobody saw me. It was during the time it was raining that I killed her. I entered her room through the window. I killed her.”
He, however, debunked the allegation that, earlier in the day, he killed his guarantor. The suspect admitted that he ransacked the victim’s room after killing her and stole her jewelry. He said he did not destroy her expensive phone, claiming that it (phone) fell from her bed and was broken.
According to him, he abandoned the bag where he put all the jewelry when he was being chased by the first person that saw him.
The police public relations officer in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, a superintendent of police, confirmed the incident. She added that the suspect has been transferred to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Port Harcourt, for proper investigation.
Danjuma, Daily Sun gathered, started plotting how to kill his former boss after he perfected his bail condition and was released from custody. On Tuesday, he carried out the murder.
