Posted by By MIKAIL MUMUNI and OLUWATOYOSI OGUNSEYE on
Detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department [SCID], panti Lagos are to meet with top management staff of oil giant, Shell Nigeria Production and Exploration Company [SNPECO] Tuesday (February 27) over the death of a Dutch lady at the company's staff quarters in Ikoyi, Lagos.
•Nude body found in bathroom
Detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department [SCID], panti Lagos are to meet with top management staff of oil giant, Shell Nigeria Production and Exploration Company [SNPECO] Tuesday (February 27) over the death of a Dutch lady at the company's staff quarters in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The meeting, according to Sunday Sun sources, will take place at SPDC office in Lagos.
The lady, 23-year-old Miss Annemieke Steen, was found dead at house No 5, Temple Road, Ikoyi, on January 4.
Her murder did not nly send shock waves through the highbrow neighbourhood she lived (a place considered as one of the 'safest" and 'most livable" in Lagos), it has also induced an exodus of Dutch nationals from the country.
Miss Steen was found in the nude, strangled in her bathroom raising suspicious of an attack by a sexual predator. But detectives are not buying that theory because preliminary autopsy report did not say that any semen was found on her.
The police are also looking beyond robbery, because they found nothing missing inside the apartment. But one curious angle to the murder was that the closed circuit camera installed at the residence did not show anything relating to the entry or exit of her assailants nor her dead body when it was played back by detectives, raising suspicions that it may have been tampered with.
A source at Shell who pleaded anonymity because 'I'm not authorized to speak on the issue" said the deceased fondly called Anne arrived Nigeria on 26 December last year to spend the Chrismas and New Year holidays with her parents.
It was learnt Anne's step mum, Mrs. Wilmer Steen had, on that fateful day gone on shopping with a friend, Mrs. Jacqueline Van Meurs, leaving the deceased at home.
Shortly after they left home, Anne reportedly went to play table tennis in the next compound and returned to her parent's home thereafter. When her step mum returned home, she reportedly knocked on the door severally but there was no response. She was said to have used her spare key to open the door. When Wilmer entered her apartment, she reportedly saw her stepdaughter's key on the table in the sitting room. She was said to have called Anne's name but there was no response.
She checked her stepdaughter's bedroom but saw only her clothing scattered all over. When she reportedly stepped into the bathroom, she found Anne lying on the floor with blood streaming out of her nose.
She reportedly raised an alarm and Anne was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was confirmed dead.
Homicide detectives at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, were alerted and cops swooped on the building arresting nine people who are mostly drivers staff of the maintenance company engaged by Shell to take care of the building.
The suspects being detained include Dauda Oyebanji, Kunle Shonubi, Collins Okon, Ukah Anamege, Pius Udoh, Andones Attah and Paul Udoh. Some of them were in charge of the CCTV.
Sunday Sun however gathered that some family members of the suspects being held have petitioned police authorities asking them to beam seachlight on some expatriate staff of Shell as well.
While the police were holding the suspects, Shell was said to have hurriedly evacuated and flown out all expatriates living in the quarters, including Anne's parents and a fellow Dutch staffer who was allegedly dating the deceased and is believed by some to have been one of those who saw the woman last.
But faulting this claim, the anonymous Shell source however said the lover boy had traveled out of Nigeria before Anne's death, though he said he could not remember the date.
A source at Panti however said the police would leave no stone unturned in apprehending the killers, saying the blood samples of the suspects currently in custody have been sent to London for DNA to determine if they had physical contact with the deceased before or after her death. Vital specimen like blood, hair and saliva from the deceased and the suspects have been taken to London for forensic analysis as well.
Mr Bode Ojajune, Public Relation Officer of the Lagos State Command of the Police confirmed the incident when contacted and said it was being handled by SCID Panti.
At Panti, one of the investigators told Sunday Sun: 'We're determined to get to the root of Anne's murder. It might be difficult to release any of the suspects until the DNA results are out. This is a very sensitive case and we don't want anybody to jump bail. DNA tests would enable us compare the samples of Anne and those being held, then we'll know who to grant bail."
By press time, Sunday Sun learnt the Force Headquartes , Abuja had stepped in as a result of the international dimension of the case.