A man has been jailed for life for the murder and false imprisonment of Riches Obi in Southwark in 2020.
Jurick Croes, 38, of no fixed address, appeared at the Old Bailey Friday, where he was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment, less time served [877 days] for murder, and nine years for false imprisonment – to be served concurrently.
Raichell Felomina, 40, of no fixed address, was sentenced at the same hearing to seven years and six months for false imprisonment – to be eligible for release after five years and four months. He will be liable for deportation on release.
Suvenca Martis, 35, of Panmure Road, Lewisham, was sentenced to six years and six months for false imprisonment and five years for perverting the course of justice, totalling 11 years and six months minus three years and four months served on remand. She will be liable for deportation on release.
All three had been convicted following a trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, May 28.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Webb from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command led the investigation and said, “We will never fully understand why Riches Obi was attacked and killed in his own home in such a brutal way, but it is thought that the three suspects were involved in some way in a money-making scam with the woman they targeted.
“We don’t know if he attempted to intervene, but we do know he was subjected to a sustained assault that ultimately ended his life. The identification and arrest of Martis was the result of complex enquiries and forensics. Her arrest led us to identify Felomina and Croesh who attempted to avoid capture by fleeing the country.
“This case clearly demonstrates that international borders do not stop UK Law Enforcement from reaching out to capture criminals. We utilsed every international cooperation tool available to us in order to bring them back to the UK to face the consequences of their actions.
“My thoughts today are with Riches’ family. They have waited many years to see justice done and it is my sincere wish that they may now find a way to move forward and cherish their memories of Riches without the spectre of this despicable crime hanging over them.”
An investigation was launched after officers were called to Riches home address in Harper Road, Southwark, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, and found the door partially open. On entering the property, they found Riches lying on the floor with stab and slash wounds. Despite the efforts of paramedics who had rushed to the flat, Riches was pronounced dead at the scene.
When an officer called out to see if anyone else was in the house, they heard a woman reply, “I’m here”. Following her voice, officers went through the flat until they found her in a bedroom bound with cable ties. A scarf was tied around her neck, and it looked like it had been used as a gag.
On searching the property, officers found a bag of cable ties identical to the ones used to bind the woman. The ties contained a price tag to a nearby hardware store; when officers attended they viewed CCTV and identified Martis as the person who purchased them. Further CCTV analysis showed her driving away from the shop in a rented vehicle, which detectives later established she had hired for the days spanning the murder.
After she was arrested later that month, detectives seized Martis’ phone. Its contents were analysed and showed she had various communications and messages linking her to Felomina and Croes – this included ferry times showing them arriving from Holland before the murder, then fleeing on the same ferry on the night of 17 November. The phone also revealed Martis had been searching for heavy-duty duct tape the night before the murder and news of the murder in the aftermath of the attack.
Forensic analysis was to prove key in showing Felomina and Croes’s role in the incident. Two knives had been recovered from the flat, both of which had been used to attack Riches; forensics found DNA on both weapons matched Felomina and Croes. Other items found inside the address, including envelopes and the cable ties, revealed traces of DNA from both men. DNA from Croes was also found on a black baseball hat that had been discarded in the bedroom of the flat.
When the hire car Martis had used was seized and examined, Croes’s blood was found inside the vehicle.
Detectives traced Felomina to Holland, where he was arrested and extradited to the UK in November 2021.
Croes managed to flee to Colombia but was arrested in February 2022; his extradition took 18 months, but he was returned to the UK to face trial.
