The emotional testimony of the mother of late Augusta Onuwabhagbe brought proceedings to a halt on Thursday at the Lagos High Court sitting in the Igbosere area of Lagos Island, as the murder trial of Benjamin Best Nnayereugo, popularly known as “Killaboi,” continued.
Cordelia Onuwabhagbe, a 56-year-old civil servant and the second prosecution witness, broke down in tears while recounting the events that led to the death of her daughter. She appeared before trial judge Justice Ibironke Harrison to narrate the relationship between her daughter and the defendant, as well as the disturbing circumstances surrounding Augusta’s death.
Led in evidence by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Dr. Babajide Martins, the witness introduced herself to the court and spoke about her family.
“my name is Cordelia Onuwabhagbe, and I’m a 56-year-old civil servant with 2 children, Hezekiah (26) & Augusta (who would have been 24 this year) but she was murdered.
“I know the defendant very well. On Dec 1, 2021, my daughter, Augusta sent me a message that she was in a romantic relationship with a boy., Benjamin Best Nnayereugo. As a single mother trying to be safe and careful, I asked her to bring him home and she did on Dec 8, 2021.
“When they came and because my daughter said she loved him, I accepted him as a son. He would often come to the house to eat and we would discuss even when Augusta was away in school as a final year, first class student of Lead City University, Ibadan studying Medical Lab Science.”
She told the court that the relationship began to show troubling signs during a vacation the couple took together outside the country.
“there was a time, on Nov 22, 2022 when they travelled out of the country together. I asked Benjamin how he made money for the travel and he said he won the money from Sporty Bet Platform and when I asked why he wasn’t investing it in his business, he said he sent some of the money for investment to his Uncle, Okeke Charles and the money for traveling was not much as they were travelling on economy and it was all low key.
“Seven days into the vacation, he mercilessly abused and beat my daughter, smashed her phone and pulled off her hair. When he beat her, he didn’t record it but when my daughter retaliated by angrily throwing pillows at him and calling him a wicked man, he recorded it and forwarded it to me.”
According to her testimony, the defendant later apologized to the family when they returned to Nigeria.
“When they returned, he came to me, begged me and went to my son to kneel and also begged him. He said, Ma, I’m not a violent person and I won’t do this again. He said if he beat her again, she should walk out of the relationship. He left after that and Augusta begged on his behalf that we should give him a second chance so they continued with the relationship and violence never happened again”.
The witness further told the court that tensions escalated in July 2023 when the defendant accused Augusta of planning to cheat on him.
“On Tuesday July 11, 2023, Benjamin called me around 9/10pm and said since I have been in a relationship with Augusta, she has never cheated on me but she’s planning to go cheat on me. I then asked, what happened? He said he impersonated somebody else and to test her loyalty, he asked her out on phone by inviting her to Lagos. He said without knowing it was him, she agreed to go to Lagos to spend time with someone else.”
She said she tried to calm the situation and promised they would address the issue once Augusta returned home from school.
“I then told Benjamin that I did not raise my daughter like that but I also assured him that she was supposed to have rounded up in school and would come home in 2 weeks and we would settle the matter then.”
Shortly after that conversation, her daughter reportedly informed her that the defendant had taken control of her Instagram account.
“Immediately he dropped off the phone, my daughter called and said Benjamin had taken over her Instagram account and logged her out.
“Because she was an influencer, she begged me to tell him to give back her account after which their relationship could end immediately. I called him and he gave the account back to her the same day.”
The court also heard that Augusta later sent a disturbing voice note about threats made against her.
“On Sat. July 15, my son called and asked when last I spoke to his sister. I told him I had been chatting with her but when I called that Saturday morning the phone rang and she didn’t pick.
“He said I should go look for his sister because he had a bad feeling, he was seeing her shadow and he wasn’t happy.”
The witness explained how she and other family members went to the defendant’s residence at Oral Estate in Ajah to search for Augusta after receiving the troubling message.
“When we we got to Oral Estate, the military officer explained to them at the gate that my daughter was not picking her phone calls but was replying to chats so they allowed us into the estate.
“When we got to his house, his gate was locked but my daughter’s car was parked in the compound.”
She told the court that they later went to a police station in Ajah to report the situation, after which an officer accompanied them back to the house.
“All the windows were open and all the air conditioners in the house were on. Her car was intact and the keys were on the bonnet.”
The witness said her brother later climbed a ladder in an attempt to access the building but did not reveal what he saw at the time.
“Whatever he saw at that point, he didn’t tell me, he later drove us home after saying that the next day, Sunday, we would go back and look for Augusta.”
She became overwhelmed with emotion while explaining how she eventually learned about her daughter’s death.
“After Sunday service I started pressing on my brother so we could go look for her. He asked to be allowed to eat and after a short while, Mrs Bankole came in. It was then my brother broke the news that Augusta was dead.”
The witness said she contacted the defendant after hearing the news, demanding to know why her daughter had been killed.
“He didn’t reply all through that Sunday. On Monday, Benjamin went online and confessed that he went into a heated argument with his girlfriend, @austa_xxo and mistakenly stabbed her to death. He said nobody should pity me, and that he will turn himself in to the police.”
She also told the court that the defendant continued communicating with her afterward.
“The next day, he started chatting me, saying it was a mistake and explaining what happened that led to the death of my daughter.”
However, she rejected the claim that the killing was accidental.
“I told him that a stab is a mistake after which you immediately rush her to the hospital, and whether she lives or dies, I’ll take it as fate, but to stab her and go at large, it was not a mistake, it was premeditated.”
She further alleged that the defendant later attempted to blackmail the family.
“At a point, he said, Augusta has a sex tape. If I release it, it won’t make you look good because you have a church and I said, is that how much you love her that you want to even blackmail her in death?”
The witness recounted that Augusta was buried on September 9, 2023, while the defendant continued posting statements online afterward.
“By Sept. 9, 2023, I laid Augusta to rest and by Sept. 14, I went online on my Instagram and wrote, it’s been 2 months since you have been killed, Augusta and nobody came to see me, where is karma?
Benjamin subsequently replied from his page, saying “Karma doesn’t exist, I don’t believe in Karma, pay wickedness for wickedness”.”
She said the defendant later released a video taken during their vacation showing Augusta throwing pillows at him and accusing him of being wicked, before locking his social media account.
“Afterwards he was declared wanted and arrested in Sierra Leone and my son was there for the arrest.”
She also explained that the defendant allegedly obtained a Sierra Leone passport under another name.
“At the time of his arrest, Benjamin had a Sierra Leone passport which he bought for $25,000 bearing the name, Samuel Kanu Princeton.”
According to her testimony, he escaped custody during a prison break before authorities eventually tracked him down again.
“With the help of my lawyer, Femi Falana, the lawyer to the poor, he was arrested in Qatar on Jan 15th 2025 and in April 2025, he was extradited back to Nigeria with multiple passports on his person.”
She concluded by telling the court that she had not seen the defendant for a long time until his appearance in court.
“For a long time, I never set my eyes on him until I saw him here in court yesterday.”
During the proceedings, the Director of Public Prosecution informed the court that several video recordings and chat messages forming part of the prosecution’s electronic evidence had only recently been served on the defence team.
Defence counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Marcel Oru, requested time to review the materials.
Justice Harrison subsequently adjourned the case to April 22 and April 23 for cross-examination of the witness.
What you should know
The case involving Benjamin Best Nnayereugo, popularly known as Killaboi, gained national attention after the death of Augusta Onuwabhagbe in July 2023.
The defendant allegedly fled Nigeria after the incident and was later arrested abroad following an international search. He was reportedly apprehended in Qatar and extradited back to Nigeria in April 2025 to face trial.
The Lagos High Court is currently hearing the case, with prosecutors presenting witnesses and electronic evidence as part of efforts to establish the circumstances surrounding Augusta’s death.
