The mother of late 21-year-old Augusta Onuwaghagbe, who was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend Benjamin Best Nnayelugo, also known as Killaboi, has denied claims during cross-examination that her daughter was violent and unfaithful during the relationship.
Cordelia Onuwaghagbe is the second witness for the state government prosecuting the murder trial, with the suspect as the sole defendant.
At the last court sitting in March, while being led to give her evidence-in-chief by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins, the witness testified about episodes of violence by the defendant against her daughter and that he had already confessed to her that he committed the crime before absconding.
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, the witness was called back for cross-examination.
While being questioned by the lead defense counsel, Marcel Oru (SAN), she told Justice Ibironke Harrison of the Lagos State High Court sitting at the JIC Courthouse, Igbosere, that the defendant visited her house regularly while dating her daughter, but she never knew he was a killer.
The deceased's mother said the couple first traveled to Mauritius when they started dating and spent about five days there. Thereafter, she said they traveled to Seychelles for another vacation, and it was during the nine-day trip that they had a fight.
According to her, Augusta took on some content jobs while on the trip, and her boyfriend helped by taking videos of her. The witness denied that the fight ensued because Augusta was recording herself virtually naked, but said she was only dancing and recording herself before the defendant angrily took her phone and smashed it on the floor.
She also denied that her daughter destroyed hotel property during the Seychelles trip, with the defendant paying about four thousand dollars for the damages.
Under further cross-examination, the witness denied that the deceased was dating one Melvin at the time or indulging in hookup sexual relations, which allegedly led to the end of their relationship. She added that she did not raise her daughter that way.
The witness further said that the defendant took the iPhone he bought for the deceased after allegedly killing her. She also denied that her daughter stabbed him during a fight, saying the wound on his hand was self-inflicted during his attack on the deceased, which led to her death.
When asked whether she knew that the defendant paid the deceased's school fees twice in 2022 and 2023, totaling more than N1.2 million, she said she did not know.
Ms. Onuwaghagbe also told the court that the defendant gave her money totaling N1.175 million as gifts at various intervals.
She stated: "On December 8, 2021, upon their return from their trip, he gave me N60,000. On July 27, 2022, I posted online that I needed a phone for my ministry; he sent me N100,000, another person sent N100,000, and another sent N20,000. In January 2023, he gave me N15,000 to buy a recharge card. Later, he sent one million naira to my account, saying my prayers for him were working and that his business was booming."
"But I did not spend it and saved it in the cooperative instead. Later, in November 2023, someone reached out to tell me he knows where my daughter's killer is, but that I must pay him. So I forwarded the one million naira to that person."
The hearing continues today, Thursday, April 23. The defendant is charged with two counts of Onuwaghagbe's murder, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Augusta, the second child of her single mother, was a 400-level student studying Medical Laboratory Sciences at Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, and was an online influencer before her death in July 2023.
