Court adjourns trial of Port Harcourt ‘serial killer’ – TheNigerialawyer

A Nigerian court on Monday adjourned the trial of a suspected
serial killer accused of strangling 10 women to death in
ritual-style murders after drugging them at hotels.

Gracious David West, 26, in October admitted to nine of the
killings in the city of Port Harcourt after the bodies of his
alleged victims were found with a white cloth wrapped around their
necks and waist.

The murders sparked outrage and prompted women to take to the
streets of Port Harcourt, the heart of Nigeria’s oil-rich south, to
demand better police protection.

A judge suspended the trial to Thursday after prosecutors said
they needed more time to prepare because they had only received the
case file from the police last week.

West appeared in court in handcuffs, wearing a green prison
uniform and a plastic bracelet from an evangelical church, an AFP
journalist said.

Prosecutor Zacchaeus Adango said that the police dossier also
contained evidence against a second suspect called Nimi Thankgod,
who should appear at the next hearing.

Port Harcourt and the surrounding region has one of the highest
crime rates in Nigeria.

It is rife with so-called cults, criminal gangs that emerged
from university campuses to become organised crime groups and
frequently engage in blood rituals and oaths.

Police have said West was a confessed cult member and released a
video of him on Twitter confessing to the crimes after his arrest
in September.

(AFP)