A 56-year-old civil servant, Mrs Cordellia Onuwabagbe, yesterday narrated before a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere how a romantic relationship between her daughter and Benjamin Best Nnanyereugo, popularly known as Killaboi, allegedly ended in the death of the young woman.

Nnanyereugo is standing trial before Justice Ibironke Harrison over the alleged murder of Miss Augusta Oseodion Onuwabagbe.

Testifying as a prosecution witness, Onuwabagbe told the court that she first met the defendant in 2021 after her daughter introduced him as her boyfriend. According to her, Augusta had sent her a message on December 1, 2021, informing her that she was in a relationship with him.

“As a single mother trying to be safe, I asked her to bring him home. She brought him on December 8, 2021,” she said.

She added that she accepted him as part of the family after meeting him. “I saw him, and my daughter said she loved him. I accepted him as a son. He used to come to the house often. We would talk and sometimes eat together,” she said.

Onuwabagbe told the court that her daughter was a 400-level student of Medical Laboratory Science at Lead City University and was on course for a first-class degree.

According to her, the relationship later showed troubling signs. She recalled that on November 22, 2022, Augusta and the defendant travelled abroad for a holiday. She said she had questioned him about the source of the funds for the trip, to which he claimed he won a sports bet.

However, about a week into the trip, she received a disturbing video from the defendant. In the video, Augusta appeared angry following an alleged quarrel between the couple.

“He did not record the part where he beat her. My daughter later told me he abused her, smashed her phone, pulled her hair and beat her,” she said.

“But when she became angry and threw pillows at him, he recorded that part and sent it to me.”

She said that after the couple returned to Nigeria, Nnanyereugo visited her home and apologised to her and her son, promising that he would not assault Augusta again. According to her, Augusta also pleaded with the family to allow the relationship to continue after the apology.

The witness further told the court that on July 11, 2023, the defendant called her late at night, claiming that Augusta was planning to cheat on him. She said he told her that he had impersonated someone online in order to test Augusta’s loyalty.

“I told him I did not raise my daughter like that and that she would soon come home from school in two weeks so we could settle the matter,” she said.

She added that shortly after the call, Augusta contacted her complaining that the defendant had taken control of her Instagram account. Augusta, she said, asked her to intervene and tell him to return the account, as she was an influencer.

Onuwabagbe said the defendant later returned the account after Augusta insisted that the relationship should end that day.

She told the court that on July 15, 2023, her son asked when she last spoke with Augusta. Although she had been chatting with her daughter, Augusta had not been taking calls.

Her son then suggested that they visit the defendant’s residence. She also recalled receiving a voice note from Augusta around 11:00 p.m., in which the young woman said the defendant had threatened her and sworn by his mother’s grave that he would “show her”.

With the help of Augusta’s best friend, Oyinadamola, the family traced the defendant’s residence to Oral Estate in the Ajah area of Lagos.

Onuwabagbe said they were eventually granted entry into the estate after explaining the situation to security personnel and arriving with Augusta’s godmother’s husband, a military officer.

According to her, when they arrived at the house, the gate was locked but Augusta’s car was parked inside the compound. They later went to a police station and returned with an officer before estate security opened the gate.

She said her brother, Reginald Okonye, climbed to the balcony using a ladder and shone a torchlight into the building through an open window. However, he did not immediately reveal what he saw.

“He drove us home and suggested we continue the search the next day,” she said.

The following day, after church service, she pressed him to resume the search for her daughter. It was then that he eventually informed the family about what he had seen.

According to her, she later began sending messages to the defendant, asking what her daughter had done to deserve being killed.

She told the court that the defendant subsequently went online and wrote that he had a heated argument with Augusta and had “mistakenly stabbed her”.

“He wrote that nobody should pity him and that he would turn himself in,” she said.

Onuwabagbe added that the defendant later continued communicating with her online, sometimes apologising and at other times issuing threats.

“At a point he told me my daughter had a sex tape and that since I am a pastor it would not be good if he released it,” she said.

She said Augusta was eventually buried on September 9, 2023.

According to her, the defendant was later declared wanted and allegedly fled Nigeria. She said he was first arrested in Sierra Leone under another identity, Samuel Kanu, but escaped during a prison break.

He was eventually arrested in Qatar on January 18, 2025, with the assistance of human rights lawyer Femi Falana and later extradited to Nigeria on April 19, 2025.

Justice Harrison adjourned the case to April 22 and April 23 for continuation of trial, including the presentation of video evidence, WhatsApp messages and the cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.