A 30-year-old Nigerian man, Onoseta Oribhabor, has killed himself after murdering his 27-year-old girlfriend, Essozinam “Martine” Assali, in Toronto, Canada. According to reports, the police were called to a condo building in the north end of the city where they found Oribhabor dead on a balcony.
After a further search, they found a woman inside a unit with obvious signs of trauma. She was treated for injuries but ultimately died. Oribhabor graduated from Babcock University, Ogun State, before leaving for Canada as reported online.
Police characterize the case as a murder-suicide and have listed 27-year-old Essozinam Assali as the city’s 10th homicide victim of the year.
They have identified the 30-year-old man as Onoseta Oribhabor of Edmonton. Police describe the deaths as a domestic incident and say no other suspects are being sought.
While those close to Assali allege Oribhabor was her boyfriend, but Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook would not confirm the relationship. Ontario has seen an unusually high number of domestic-related deaths since the beginning of the year.
Gender-based violence experts have documented more than a dozen cases of women or their family members killed by past or present intimate partners.
A number of people expressed condolences and referred to her as “Martine.”
“It is very difficult to express how shock I am with the news of your death considering we only spoke three weeks ago. Words can’t describe how caring and great you are,” wrote Eddie Idisi. “Words can’t describe how nice a person you were and how blessed I was to have known and be a brother and friend to you.”
According to her LinkedIn page, she was bilingual in French and English and worked as a human resources and benefits specialist in Toronto. She also earned an Ontario graduate certificate in green business management from Seneca College in 2016, but originally studied abroad at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.
