A 24-year-old man, Tayo Adeyemi, who was allegedly hired to kill a female hotel lodger in the Alakija, Satellite Town area of Lagos State, has confessed to the crime.

The suspect said although, he was a hired assassin, he ‘fell in love’ with his target, Mary, at first sight and thought of sparing her life on the condition she had sex with him.

The Kwara State-born, who was paraded before newsmen at the state Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, weekend, said he was dropped off by two gang members on a motorcycle where he headd to the hotel, White House, to kill his target, penultimate Wednesday.

According to him, he sneaked into the hotel, and demanded that his target have sex with him so he would spare her life.

Mary was said to have refused but Adeyemi said he eventually attempted to rape her, during which she raised the alarm, alerting the hotel management who called the police.

Adeyemi, who dropped out of senior secondary school, was arrested by the Satellite Town Police Division.

In his confession, the suspect said, “I was working as a casual worker at a bottling company in the Apapa area before I met the gang members in the Ajegunle area.

“A friend, Wisdom, had invited me to stay in his house. His friends, who are Eiye Confraternity members, saw me and said they had a job for me. They said the job was to kill a woman.

“I said I could not do such a job, but they threatened to kill me and since they had guns, I was afraid. Finally, I was left with no option but to do their wish.

“One of them, Ahmed, gave me the gun and they brought me on a motorcycle to the hotel. But when I got to the hotel room and saw the woman, I fell in love with her and I had mercy on her.

“I told her that I was sent to kill her, but since I loved her, I would just have sex with her. When she declined, I offered her N1, 500, and said I would take her necklaces and wristwatch away and lie to my gang members that she had been killed.

“But she raised the alarm. Everyone in the hotel called the police, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress and other vigilance groups. The hotel management called the police at the Satellite Town division.

“When my parents heard about my arrest, they were disappointed. I told them that I was being threatened by the cult members. I did not mean to kill the lady.

“Otherwise, I would have shot her and run away,” he pleaded.

The state police image maker, Dolapo Badmus, who paraded the suspect, said investigations were ongoing to apprehend the other members of his syndicate.

The PPRO said, “The police recovered one locally-made pistol and a live cartridge from the suspect.

“He has been transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.”