One night in August 2015, a 22-year Nigerian man returned home from work to discover that his apartment was locked. His girlfriend and cousin were inside, having sex. So he began to knock but the door will not open as quick as in past nights.

“I knocked on the door and waited for over five minutes before my cousin could come to open the door. When I went into the room, I saw my girlfriend weeping and blood running from her nostrils,” Ndifreke Joseph Clement told a Vanguard journalist this week in Akwa Ibom State, six months after killing his 23-year-old cousin, Ubong Edet.

Ndifreke Joseph Clement

“I asked her what happened and she said Ubong beat, wounded and forcefully had sex with her. But after opening the door for me, Ubong went away and did not come back until very late in the night”.

He could not sleep that night so he decided to have a frank talk with his cousin. But the conversation turned violent, then tragic.

“When I asked him why he did what he did to my girlfriend, he started punching me and I retaliated.

“We fought for a very long time before I could subdue him. I then picked my cow-butchering knife and cut his throat, carried his dead body and dumped it in the bush very close to the house and threw the knife into the pit toilet”.

But Clement has not been able to sleep well since the killing, he said. And this week, he reported himself to the police in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State where both hail from to beg for forgiveness and have peace of mind.

“I have brought myself to the police even when nobody knew that I killed him. I have come to plead for forgiveness because since I killed my cousin, I no longer have peace of mind. I am always disturbed in my mind and dream.”

Vanguard said the Akwa Ibom State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Cordelia Nwawe, was not moved and the suspect will soon be arraigned in court for justice to begin.