Family Of Lady Beaten To Death In Anambra Hotel Alleges Cover-Up

Families of a woman named Chinyere Awuda, who was allegedly beaten to death and had her body discarded by a pool at the Cosmila Hotel in Awka, Anambra State, on July 16, have accused the police and the hotel administration of conspiring to cover up the incident.

A cover-up, according to the deceased’s family, led by her father Patrick, who was represented by Rigota Chambers.
Aderemi Adeoye, the state commissioner of police, has been tasked with conducting a comprehensive investigation into the tragedy.
The victim was allegedly attacked by partygoers who were at the hotel to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

However, the hotel maintained that Awuda mistookly fell into the abandoned pool after robbing the partygoers and fleeing the club.

But the family insisted that she had bruises on her body when she was removed from the pool and that police stopped the family from taking pictures of the corpse.

The lawyers, acting on behalf of the family in the petition, wrote, “The inability of the hotel management to provide a comprehensive CCTV video of what happened, both inside the club where the beating started and outside the club where the actual murder occurred left more questions to be answered and uncovered.
“The investigating officer at the B Division, the suspects and the hotel management were coaxing the deceased family members to accept settlement prior to the conclusion of the investigation.

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“We therefore humbly pray that you use your good office to direct a thorough investigation of the crime and the suspects.”
Following the development, the state government ordered the closure of the hotel pending the conclusion of an investigation into the matter.

But when our correspondent visited the hotel on Tuesday, he observed activities were going on at the facility.
The hotel, in a statement signed by the Awka Branch Manager, Mr Stanley Akuneziri, said the deceased was not beaten to death and dumped in the swimming pool as had been claimed by the family and a section of the media.

Akuneziri said, “Contrary to what has been said, late Chinyere was never beaten to death or dragged to the pool. We cannot for any reason hurt anybody or do things that are inimical to our goals and objectives.
“We do not condone any action that may affect our customers or jeopardise the integrity we have suffered to build over the years.

“An autopsy is being conducted and the result will be made public, anybody fingered in her death must surely face the full weight of the law.”
When contacted on the latest development on the matter, the state police spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said four suspects were still in custody, adding that an autopsy would be conducted on the corpse.

“We have the suspects in custody and the command is still expecting the family of the victim to come forward as the case has been transferred to the State CID, Awka.

“We shall do an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death before the body will be released to the family. This shall help us in our investigation to unravel misconceptions of information surrounding the unfortunate incident,” he said.

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