Gloria George’s world was turned upside down when her 34-year-old son, Horsefall Rowland, failed to return home on the fateful night of September 10, 2024.
He had informed his mother at about 3.30 pm that he was going for a meeting at Peter Odili road and Government Reserved Area, GRA in PortHarcourt, Rivers State respectively, but never returned.
The apprehensive mother had spoken to him at about 10 pm that day and he had reassured her that he was on his way home. But as the hours ticked by, Gloria’s anxiety grew, as she was unable to reach her son.
Her worst fears were confirmed about 5am the next day, when her son called, frantic with worry, and told her that he was being held captive by ruthless kidnappers.
As the family scrambled to raise the ransom for their son’s release, it received threatening voice notes and pictures from his captors, warning that Rowland would be killed if the ransom was not paid.
The family’s anguish was palpable as they sent the initial N30,000, hoping against hope that Rowland would be released unharmed. Tragically, it was too late, as Rowland’s lifeless body was later discovered along Queens/Kings Bakery ABULOMA road, Port Harcourt.
Mother’s narration
In her narration to the Police on November 1, 2024, the devastated mother said the kidnappers’ demands were relentless and merciless.
According to her, “When he called on September 9,2024, about 5.05 am, he said that some persons held him and collected his phone. On that note he requested for 30,000 to settle them and I sent him the money. After that, his captors called and demanded for N2.5m though eventually the sum of N300,000 was later sent.
“The suspects at this point sent two threatening voice notes and pictures to Roland’s girlfriend, that if they didn’t receive the N300,000 in the shortest time, we should consider Roland dead. The money was sent to Roland’s account and that was the last time we heard of him.”
Police investigation
Upon receiving the complaint, the Special Operation and Intelligence Team of the Rivers State Police Command swung into action, arresting five suspects.
They were Endurance Thompson, aged 23; Boma Otonye,41, David Ishaku,34; Moses Benjamin, 29 and Emmanuel , 32 years.
Confession
The prime suspect, Thomson, who was arrested in his hideout at Woji area of the state, confessed to the crime, revealing that Rowland was beaten to death after allegedly attempting to pay for hard drugs with a fake bank alert.
He alleged that the late Roland met him on September 11, 2024 about 3am behind Port Harcourt zoo, Trans Amadi, where he (victim) came to buy hard drugs to smoke.
According to the Akwa-Ibom State born: “I have known Roland since December 2023. He usually came to buy Charlie (a street name for cocaine). But unknown to me, he had been using fake transfer alert to buy it.
“Indeed, I received an alert, but the amount in my account remained the way it was when I checked my balance.
“He was owing me N150,000. He claimed to have transferred N8,000 first and N20,000. I called another colleague that sells same drug to give me his android phone so that I could insert my sim card and check if the money had entered.
“Yet, the transfer I got an alert on didn’t reflect in the total amount I had.
“I raised an alarm on the fake transfer. He was beaten and abandoned. But he later came to me and begged to be taken to the hospital for treatment. I called one of my friends, Justice, who said we should bring the wounded person.
“When we got to Justice’s place, he was not around but he told me to wait for him. We waited until it was dark. Roland died inside the Keke Marwa that rushed him to Justice’s place. I called Justice to inform him of the development.
“Later he came with Michael in another Keke, and took the Roland’s body away. They dumped it beside a bakery on Abuloma road.”
Spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko said the corpse had been deposited in the morgue for preservation.
She added that efforts were still on to arrest other suspects mentioned by prime suspects to have participated in the beating that led to Roland’s death.
