I Didn’t Mean to Kill My Childhood Friend,17-year-old Girl Laments

Life for Chiemeriem Benjamin, who had a dream of
becoming a banker, has come to a temporary halt as she
accidentally killed her childhood friend, Lawrence
Oloruntobi, during a minor disagreement.
The incident, which took place at Iba area of Lagos, has


opened a scary new phase of life for the teenager, who hails
from Abia State.
Chiemeriem told Vanguard:
"Lawrence is my friend; we grew up together and have
lived in the same environment from as far back as I
can remember. On that day, I was just not in the mood
to talk with him. When I came out in the morning, he
tried to make some jokes, which we would ordinarily
laughed about. But I told him I was not interested in
such.
I went out later that day and on my way back, I saw
him forcing my younger brother to play in a stagnant
body of water in front of our compound. My brother
was crying out for help, because he did not want to be
dragged into the water. I quickly walked up to
Lawrence to stop him. He took it personal and told me
he would slap me.
Out of anger, I told him that even his mother would
not dare slap me. He then went in to get a cane, which
has always been his tradition whenever we are having
a misunderstanding. I also rushed into our room to
grab a knife. But my elder brother and a neighbour,
called Iya Ayo, intervened and settled the matter."
According to the 17-year-old, Senior Secondary 1 student:
"About two hours later, Lawrence came back to meet
me, threatening to deal with me. We started
exchanging words, which later culminated in a fight. I
went in and grabbed another knife just to threaten
him.
Unfortunately, while my elder brother, who intervened
again, was trying to plead with Lawrence not to fight
with me because I am a girl, I angrily stabbed
Lawrence in the chest with the knife.
It was only after my action that I realized what I had
done. I started calling out for help because I was very
scared. Few neighbours, who were around, responded
and we quickly rushed him to a nearby hospital, but it
was too late. He died.
Sincerely, I never meant to kill him with the knife. I only
wanted to threaten him, but I just do not know how
and why I stabbed him."
Vanguard learned that the case, which is currently being
investigated by operatives in the homicide section of Lagos
State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, would soon
be charged to court.