The State Criminal Investigation
Department of the Lagos State Police Command, Panti, has arrested Tunde
Williams, whose 22-year-old ‘houseboy,’ Onyeka Raphael, was found dead in the
swimming pool of Williams’ house on Saturday.
Spokesperson of the command, Ngozi
Braide, told our correspondent on Wednesday, that the case was transferred to
the SCID on Wednesday.
The police had earlier stated that
Williams was not cooperating.
Braide said, “I spoke with the
Divisional Police Officer of Ogudu yesterday. The boss was not cooperating.
“Right now, the officers in charge of
the case would dig into the circumstances surrounding the death of the
deceased. Investigation has commenced.”
A source at the homicide unit of the
SCID, said Williams, a retired accountant, had been taken into custody on
Wednesday while a search was conducted on his home.
“A single-barrelled gun was found in
the house and there is no evidence suggesting that the gun was legally owned,”
the source said.
Raphael was found at the bottom of
the swimming pool of the house on Babatunde Asimi Street, Ogudu GRA, Lagos, in
which he worked as a househelp.
The deceased was said to be an
indigene of Umunede in Ika Local Government Area of Delta State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the family
had suspected foul play and written a petition to the Commissioner of Police,
seeking an investigation into Raphael’s death.
The family claimed the dinner Raphael
made for himself the night before was still on the kitchen table, adding that
the security man in the house said he did not observe anything strange that
night.
The police have said an autopsy would
be carried out on the victim’s corpse.
A source said there was a fallout
between Williams and the deceased about a month ago and that he (Raphael) would
have quit his job save for appeals from a family member.
It is however not clear what the
cause of the problem was.
The police have said the outcome of
the autopsy would determine whether the case would be treated as homicide or
not.