Serial Killings: Number Of Dead Victims Hits 15 …Police Hunt For More Suspects

The Police in Rivers State said they have confirmed that the total number of women killed by the suspected serial killer, Gracious David-West is now 15.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura disclosed this to newsmen at the Command’s Headquarters on Moscow Road, after he inaugurated a task force to enforce the installation of CCTV cameras in all hotels in the state.
Dandaura said that after further investigations, the suspect confessed to have killed a total of nine young women in Rivers and six outside the state.
“After we did the last press conference, he admitted to killing only five. After the press conference, we interrogated him further. We took him round all the hotels one by one where he did the killings.
“He led us to the rooms where he booked and killed those eight people, and he confirmed that he killed more. He has killed nine here (Rivers State). He has killed one in Lagos; he killed one in Owerri; he killed one in Sapele (Delta State); he has killed one in Aba (Abia State); he has killed one in Benin (Edo State); he has killed one in Ibadan (Oyo State).
“So, now we have 15, including nine from Port Harcourt, six from outside this state. This was after we paraded him last week. After we paraded him, so many state commands have been calling to say this was the same man who strangled a woman in their place.”
The state police boss, however, said investigation was ongoing to ascertain whether they were other suspected serial killers in Port Harcourt apart from the three arrested so far.
“We don’t know whether he is the only person doing it or whether there are other group members. We have interrogated him further, and he told us he is the only person doing this, that he does not move with anybody. But we are not going to take that. We will continue to pursue them.”
While warning that the command would no longer allow hotels in the state operate without security cameras, he urged the newly inaugurated task force headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Valentine Olumese, to extend their operation beyond the Port Harcourt metropolis.
“Gentlemen, we have to enforce these guidelines. It is very important that we enforce it. If we had this on the ground, we would not have recorded this number of casualties. So, I want to urge the committee to make sure that they go round and make sure that any hotel operator, not only in Port Harcourt because there are hotels in local government areas, who flouts the directive is arrested and prosecuted.
“You must go round and tell them that they either follow these guidelines or close their hotels. They must install these CCTV cameras and do proper documentation of their guests. Go round in all these hotels in the state and enforce these guidelines, otherwise, we don’t know what will happen in the future. We don’t know whether he is doing this thing alone. For now, we just believe he is the only person doing it.
“We are not going to take chances. We will continue to pursue them. I have clearly instructed the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders to visit the hotels every day and checkmate their activities.
“We owe it a duty to make sure that these guidelines are complied with. Any hotel that is found wanting, we have a way we will close it. If you report to us, we will seal that place,” Dandaura added.
The Tide reports that the 12-man special task force includes four policemen, four members of the Nigerian Hotels’ Association, three from Rivers State Ministry of Culture and Tourism and one representing Department of State Services (DSS).
However, disturbed by incessant incidents of serial killing in the state, the Rivers State House of Assembly has warned that it would sanction hotels which disobey police directives to install Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in their facilities.
The Chairman, Rivers State House of Assembly Ad-Hoc Committee on Serial Killing in the state, Hon Kelechi Wogu, gave the warning when he led members of his committee on a visit to the state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura at his office in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Wogu, who is the lawmaker representing Omuma Constituency in the state Legislature, said if the directives given to hotel owners were strictly complied with, the number of deaths recorded as a result of the activities of the serial killer would have been averted.
He expressed sadness over the sad development, and assured the police of the support of the 32-member Assembly.
According to him, “We are looking at the time you gave that directive as the commissioner of police that they should install CCTV cameras, and they all agreed and left.
“We as an Assembly won’t spare those hotels that failed to comply with your directives because if those directives were complied with, we would not have lost more lives. The fact is that you have saved lives. If you had not apprehended that miscreant by now, we would have recorded other killings,” the lawmaker said,
Wogu further said that following the committee’s investigations, it was discovered that the number of women allegedly killed by the suspect has increased from the earlier nine.
While commending the efforts of the police in carrying out due diligence in their investigation, he advised hotel owners to ensure the safety of lives and property in their facilities by recording details of customers who visit there.
“We, Rivers people are not interested in only the serial killer. We are interested in the serial killers because we still believe that they are more. While investigation is going on, more facts will emerge.
“We strongly believe that one man wearing one cloth for over 15 crimes committed in different days must be mysterious even when you know you are being shown in the social media. People are looking at you, if not that I watched the clip and saw when he said that he ties them, because I wanted to ask why after killing them, why still tying them?”
He also urged the Nigerian police to do their best to unravel others involved because David-West may not be working alone in the killings, just as he asked the police to shut down the hotel where the manager concealed the activities of the suspected serial killer when he lodged there.
In his speech, the state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura said investigations were still ongoing on the case of the serial killing, and urged members of the public to always provide information to the police to help them in fighting crime in the state.
He said, “If all the hotels where he did the previous killings gave us his identity immediately, he wouldn’t have succeeded in killing this number of women.”

Dennis Naku