By Nabem Dabur
Miss Veronica Mngohol Tarkor was a 200 level undergraduate of Micro Biology Department of Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi, Benue State. She was allegedly killed in a hotel, Madonna Guest House, Nyiman, Makurdi, by friends who lured her to the hotel on Saturday March 19, 2022 through a phone call.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Benue State Police Command, SP Catherine Sewuese Anene, who confirmed the incident said three persons were arrested in connection with the crime and are being interrogated.
On alleged mutilation of her body parts, SP Anene said, there were no body marks to show the cause of death and they are waiting for autopsy to determine the cause of her death.
When The Voice visited the residence of the deceased, the mother, Mrs Philomena Takor, a widow was too depressed to talk and directed the immediate younger sister of the victim, Miss Sarah Tarkor to talk.
Sarah, while narrating the incident told The Voice that, her sister was last seen Saturday March 19, 2022 by 1:00pm when she received a phone call and excused her customers and other persons where she fixes nails and sells second hand clothes at Ada Chenge Street Junction, New GRA, Makurdi. According to Sarah, the late Veronica said she would be back in 15 minutes and never returned and when they called her line, it was switched off until the following day.
According to her, on Sunday, when they woke up, the mother observed suspicious movement of a fair young man hovering the street. The man, who had met with the stepmother’s nanny, later beckoned on her and she went to meet him.
Sarah further said the man asked her to collect her sister’s phone and the key of the hotel room, that the sister said she should go and stay with her that he could go home and change and further warned her not inform their mother. She however, said she only took the sister’s phone and asked the guy to follow her to the hotel but he should allow her to change however, she discreetly informed the mother, who then asked her to go on bike, while she trailed behind to avoid suspicion.
At the Madonna Guest House, on opening the door, the sister was seen stripped naked and sprawled on the bed but the man, pretended tapping her that she should wake up as her sister was around.
She said, immediately she sensed her sister was dead, she held her hand and her lifeless body was frozen cold even as the air conditioner was high and she started screaming and shouting and the young tried stopping her. By then, the mother was already in the hotel, climbing the staircase and heard her voice and joined her in screaming and shouting, which attracted some guests in the hotel.
She said, one of the guests who came out identified the young man that brought her to the hotel as one of the men that were with her.
According to her, when the police finally came to remove the sister to the hospital, two young men walked into the hotel and quickly, the same man alerted her and the mother that they were also among others that were with the sister and they were apprehended by the police.