The Nigeria police have arrested a suspect in the killing of a 50-year-old Spanish doctor who was said to be on vacation in Nigeria at the time of his death. On Thursday night, the police in Lagos paraded a 21-year-old man, Rafael Okechukwu, for allegedly killing the Spanish doctor, identified as Antonio Gabarro, at a hotel in Festac Town, a Lagos suburb. Interviewed by journalists, Okechukwu confessed to stabbing the Spanish to death with a broken bottle, following an altercation that ensued after he (Okechukwu) discovered that Gabarro had drugged him so he could have sex with him at his hotel room. The suspect, who said he met the Spaniard in Ghana, said he did not know he was gay.
But Police Commissioner Suleiman Abba said there was no excuse for killing anyone, adding that if Okechukwu had any complaint, he should have reported such to the police.
Abba said the suspect would be prosecuted ‘to serve as a deterrent to others who feel they can take laws into their own hands’.
The Police Commissioner said the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria had been notified of Gabarro’s death, while his body had been deposited at a public mortuary in Lagos.