Catechist caught with lover’s corpse in Benue on the run

One Oliver Vershima, a Catechist attached to St. Martins Parish Mbape in Adikpo deanery, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, is currently on the run following the death of his lover. 

Vershima was said to have taken to his heels having been caught with the corpse of a woman suspected to be his lover while he was trying to dispose it. 

Terhemba, a native of the community, who spoke to journalists in the early hours of Tuesday, said the incident happened last Saturday.

According to him, the catechist who was assigned to work at St. Agustine Zone, Jov Mbahura with the name Oliver Vershima was caught with a lady’s dead body around 7 pm on Saturday.

“On questioning him, it was discovered that he (Oliver) had impregnated the lady and they tried to terminate the pregnancy but in the process,  the lady lost her life early hours of the day (Saturday).

“To conceal this, the catechist hid the dead body inside his room until nightfall so he could take the body out of the village and possibly run away.

“Unfortunately for him, he was caught while trying to carry the body out of the village but he later escaped in the melee,” Terhemba said.

Terhemba added that the identity of the lady was yet to be ascertained, but is believed to have come from a neighboring community.

The Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Catherine Anene, who confirmed the incident, said that the corpse of the lady had been recovered and deposited at the hospital morgue.

Anene said: “Corpse of the said young girl who was said to have visited her man friend was recovered and taken to the mortuary after a report was received but the said Oliver is yet to be seen as he brought the corpse out of his room and ran away.

The PPRO said that the investigation was ongoing as the cause of death is yet unknown.