Teenage fraudster sets lover ablaze for alleged cheating

A 19-year-old boy Victor Orji has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly burning his 24-year-old lover to death over alleged infidelity.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning at G54 Army Post Service Housing Estate, Ojo.

Orji, alleged to be a fraudster, was alleged to have poured petrol on his lover Mariam Alabi after she allegedly went to stay with another man on Thursday and Friday.

The suspect allegedly confessed that the N600,000 he used to rent their accommodation was part of proceeds of fraud, adding that he had been involved in such business for about three years.

According to the suspect, he had discovered through her phone when she returned on Friday that she went to see another man and not her father as she claimed.

He said the woman also left their home on Thursday to fix her hair but did not return till the following day, Friday and again left claiming she was going to her father’s.

Orji who said he went through her phone and saw her chats, videos calls and nude pictures she sent to another man, claimed that she had agreed to stop prostitution when she moved into his place in March.

A picture of the woman’s scald body was also shared by neighbours who were said to have put out the flames on her and rushed her to a hospital where she eventually died.

Confirming the incident, police spokesman DSP Bala Elkana said the case aas reported at Iba Police Station around 11:45am on Saturday.

“The suspect confessed that he used petrol to set the victim ablaze. The suspect met the victim, a 24-year-old girl on February 28 through a hookup and she moved into his house in March. They have since lived as lovers.

“He said her parents lived apart. He finished his secondary school in 2016 at Gbagada Senior Grammar School and seeking for admission into tertiary institution. That he has been into internet fraud for the past three years.

“That the N600,000 he used in renting the apartment they lived in was a proceed of internet fraud. That he brought the victim into his house with conditions that she will quit prostitution and stick to him alone.

“He said he became angry when he saw chats and pictures she sent to another man on her phone and then used fuel he bought to power generator and set her ablaze.

“A team of detectives visited the scene. The victim was taken to General Hospital, Igando were she was admitted but died in the early hours of Sunday December 8.