Crime
How envy made 3 UNIABUJA students watch colleague drown in swimming pool
Emmanuel Balogun, a 17-year-old undergraduate of the University of Abuja was left drowning by his friends with whom he went celebrating their admission together on Sunday night.
The incident took place at The Dome, a recreational centre in the FCT.
The three colleagues have been arrested.
According to the CCTV footage of the incident taken from the hotel, four of them went into the swimming pool tht afternoon, and only three of them came out.
What surprised the investigators was that the three friends would later gather, and decided to watch Emanuel struggling until he drowned.
They made no attempt to call for help—nor did they inform his parents.
After they were sure Emmanuel was dead, they took his phones, shoes, and cash, and left.
But the hotel staff later informed the police, and the corpse was taken to a mortuary.
A girl in the class, however, informed the parents Monday night that their son had been missing, adding “it is like something has happened”.
After series of calls to Emmanuel’s line, the couple decided to go check at his hostel, where they were told he went for a party at the Dome on Sunday.
The search eventually ended at the police station where the family was led to the mortuary to identify their son.
According to a family friend who witnessed the interrogation after watching the CCTV footage, one of the three wanted to pull Emmanuel out. But the other objected.
‘He is always doing ‘shakara’ because his father is rich, … and all the girls are always admiring the deceased so he should let him be,” one of the boys was quoted as saying.
Emma, the boys confessed, paid for the gate fees, food and drinks for the outing.
The young man was buried amid tears.
But the friends and the hotel staff are still in police custody at the Force headquarters.