Found Deceased In An Onitsha Brothel Was A Sex Worker

Monday saw the death of a suspected commercial sex worker in a brothel on the old market road in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The deceased, from Enugu State, was simply known as Chisom, and it was said that she passed away after washing the plates she used to eat on Sunday night.

However, controversy has followed the cause of death due to the brothel being abandoned by its residents, who are primarily sex workers, and by neighbors.

A financial dispute may have led to an early caller strangling her to death, according to some, while others claim she hanged herself in her hotel room. Still others claim she drank poison and then died.

According to a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous, the deceased committed herself after learning that her boyfriend had left her for another woman.

She remarked: “She had a boyfriend who often lavished cash on her. Even this past Christmas, the boy approached her bearing gifts that included a bag of rice valued at #200,000 and requested her to depart for the holiday and return later.

“She was informed that her lover had married as soon as she returned. After that, she began acting strangely, and three days ago, she was spotted clutching a rope in her hand.

“When questioned about why she was holding the rope, she became combative. Early that morning, she swept her room, and at around nine in the morning, we heard that she had killed herself there.

“We noticed her neck bound to the window of her room with a rope, but the legs were on the ground. Since no froth was coming out of her lips yet her tongue was out, we cannot determine if she committed suicide.

When our reporter arrived on the scene, sympathizers could be seen trying to enter the hotel so they could see the body, while some of the sex workers were hastily packing up their stuff out of fear of being detained.

Operatives from the nearby Onitsha Area Police Area Command visited the hotel at around 12.30 p.m. and left with a few hotel staff members before returning with an ambulance and removing the body.

Police spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga confirmed the event and said that the inquiry has started.

The absence of a suicide note in the room raises doubts about the death. We’re looking at every possibility to figure out how the death came to be,” she said.