‘I Slit His Throat While He Was In Wheelchair’- Driver Explains How He Killed His 80-Year-Old Boss In Abuja

Jonathan Marcus, 28, from Borno State has worked with the family of Adebola Ezekeil, an 80-year-old patriarch and his wife, Abiodun Ezekeil, 79, for a decade as their auto mechanic, and later became their driver.

But on March 31, this year, he walked into the residence of the aged couple at the Apo Legislative Quarter, in Abuja, exchanged his regular pleasantries and executed a premeditated death plan for the couple.

He betrayed his employer’s trust by killing them inside their own house.

Although the operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police, trailed him to Kogi State, arrested and later paraded him on April 19 at its command, what remained baffling were his reasons for committing such a cruel act.

In an exclusive interview he granted to THE WHISTLER, Marcus narrated the events that led to the incident.

His Reasons

He gave a little background to the case, disclosing that he met the couple about a decade ago while working for his late uncle who owned the auto mechanic shop where he continued to operate after his demise.

They were his late uncle’s client, but he repaired and maintained their cars until about four years ago when ‘Daddy Ezekiel’ as he fondly called the Octogenarian, pleaded with him to drive him once a week, due to his frail legs.

He said, “He started begging me that if I am less busy, I should come and drive him once a week, to go out and buy things and come back home. I complained to him that I am always busy, and he knows how my job is, but he kept calling and asking.

“Sometimes, if I am working and it remains small, I will leave it to the apprentice and go meet him. I will take him to many places: markets, plazas, and hotels, everyone knows me and him.

“But I am not his driver. I am only helping him and he helps me if I am in need sometimes. If I take him out and we return, he used to give me N2000 to N2,500. If he sees that we have wasted too much time outside, he will give me N5000.

“Then, I will work and go home because if it gets into the evening, I won’t meet any customers in my shop, except the ones I left behind in the shop, with my boys.”

Marcus said such funds were neither sustainable for earning a living, growing his business nor providing for his nuclear family.

“One day, the thing started to affect my work, and I explained to him. He said, ‘God dey’, but I knew leaving the shop was causing me trouble because customers would be calling and I would be with him in the hotel for many hours; I would leave my workplace. There was a time I left him behind in church because of a customer,” he noted.

Marcus said the situation reached a point when his spouse left him, following his inability to provide for the family. But the suspect said he continued to drive the couple around, considering their age and their children barely around.

His Convictions

The suspect admitted to THE WHISTLER that the family was good to him and trusted him — So what was the state of his mind when he committed this crime?

Reluctantly, Marcus explained that having lost his source of livelihood while working with the aged couples, life became a living hell for him.

“There was nothing… my work was gone through the movements that I and Daddy Ezekeil were doing. My wife as well… It was through the work that I was taking care of her, the school fees, feeding and everything… ‘work go… everything go’.

“On that fateful day, I sat down and thought that everything I’ve lost, I’ve lost through the man. Also, Daddy promised me N500,000 last year to support myself because of the complaints I used to give him that nothing was going well on my side. He promised to help with the money to at least open a small business to manage myself.

“That day, I went to the house, and I said that whether Daddy gives me money to support myself or he keeps playing me like the way he has been playing me, I can’t endure it anymore, because I sat down and thought to myself that I’d rather die than live such a life.

“I walked into the house that night and mummy was inside because the door was open. She heard the door open, and said who is that? I said it was Jonathan. She said, Jonathan, how are you doing? I said fine, because the house was free for me, and they did not stop me from entering anywhere inside the house.

“She greeted me and went back to the kitchen and I asked her where Daddy was, she said Daddy was in his room and I went into his room to see him. Daddy welcomed me too and we started to talk about the things that were happening in his church.”

The Action

Like every other day that Marcus had been to the house of this aged couple, it was the last thought on their mind that Marcus came into that house only for one purpose — To slit their throats!

The double-edged ,sharp mini machete was concealed inside Marcus’ outfit. The weapon had a piece of dirty clothes tied around the black base handle like a robe. This robe, he tied around his waist, but Marcus denied he intended to kill them that night.

He said he carries the weapon everywhere. In fact, it is a normal thing to carry such a weapon where he resides in Abuja as he goes with it to climb the mountains with his friends “to plug mangoes.”

But having created a settled atmosphere whilst conversing with Daddy Ezekiel that fateful day, Marcus pretended to be on his way home. From his description, the kitchen appeared to be a conduit through which he accessed the house.

“As I was leaving, I told mummy that I wanted to be on my way. I told her to collect transport fare for me from daddy and she said okay. She turned to go meet Daddy when I removed the knife, I held her from the back… I used the robe on the knife to cover her mouth from behind, and that way she was unable to shout. She went down immediately.

When asked why he killed her, he said, “I did not go there for mummy, but daddy. Mummy was there and I would not be able to get any action from Daddy when she was around.

“But when I cut mummy, daddy asked, Jonathan are you there, what is happening? I said Mummy fell because he knows I cannot hurt Mummy. I asked him, do you want to see her? He said yes. I even told him that she needed water. So, I entered inside… I made sure there was no blood on my hand.

“When I entered inside, I jacked Daddy and sat him in his wheelchair. The house was also not that bright. Daddy asked me what was happening, and immediately I tied his neck with the robe on the knife and slit his throat.”

When asked if he had killed anyone in the past, he denied it, saying, “Go and ask anyone in my area, I do not even kill animals and I do not fight”, but how he slit the throats of the couple, spoke otherwise.

Marcus did not appear remorseful. He stressed that he killed them in that manner, “For destroying his business and his home”, adding, “na revenge I go revenge”, he said in vernacular.

Exit Plan

Marcus left the house that night through the front door, he said.

He disclosed that he picked up Daddy’s phone, and wallet containing his ATM cards and hospital documents for his eyes. He further locked the bodies inside the apartment and left them unseen.

Hours after the incident occurred, THE WHISTLER understood that the children were unable to reach their parents, which was unusual. This prompted them to contact the estate security to break into the residence.

Marcus was the last to have been suspected. Our correspondent learnt that the children, particularly his son, were the first to have been suspected, given that Daddy had just reportedly sold a property.

But the investigation turned towards Marcus after the bank reached out to the police informing them of the series of withdrawals from Daddy’s account. Marcus had purportedly left Abuja for Kogi State, where he handed over the ATM to his friend, who withdrew the monies in his stead.

The police further tracked Marcus through his friend and eventually apprehended him. He was paraded on April 19 alongside other criminals. The FCT Police Commissioner, Benneth Igweh said he would be charged in court.

Marcus told THE WHISTLER that he regrets his actions as he has become suicidal, since he killed the couple. He said he could have walked away rather than take the lives of the aged couples who had been nothing, but good to him.