A 21-year-old Nigeria, Rafael Maduabuchi Ikechukwu, has been arraigned in court for allegedly killing a Spanish doctor, Antonio Gavarro, at a Lagos hotel 19 April, 2011. The one-count charge against the suspect said he unlawfully killed the Spaniard ‘by slaughtering him with a piece of broken glass on his threat’ at Carlton Hotels and Suites in Festac Town, a suburb of Lagos. Prosecuting police officer Ekundayo Gabriel said the offence contravened Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State. Ikechukwu was arraigned at a Magistrate Court in Ebute Metta, in Nigeria’s economic capital city of Lagos, Tuesday, but his plea was not taken as the Presiding Magistrate, Helen Omisore, referred the matter to the state Director of Public Prosecution for advice.
The Magistrate subsequently adjourned the case to 29 July, 2011.
During interrogation by the police, Ikechukwu, who slept in the same hotel room with Antonio on 19 April 2011, accused the 52-year-old Spaniard of raping him.
‘I woke up to realise that my anus was sore and also found Antonio naked on the same bed,’ he said, alleging that Antonio drugged him the previous night and raped him when he slept off.
Homicide detectives found Antonio with a slit throat, a blood-stained broken bottle, Ikechukwu’s mobile phones in the hotel room.