At re-enacting of macabre crime: Arrested ENAM graduate confesses killed grandmother, mother.

Batek made the confession to reporters in Yaounde, on Monday April 15. He was speaking after security forces ferried him to various scenes where he committed the crime.  

The exercise was for the accused to demonstrate how he killed, dismembered and dumped the body of his mother, Louisette Ngo Yebel Epse Founga, by the side of a stream.

Officers of the National Gendarmerie and a State prosecutor at the Mfoundi High Court, Ndi Ndi Luc, oversaw the exercise.  

After demonstrating what transpired, he told reporters that he is possessed by some demons. 

“I am possessed by evil spirits. This cannot be me. I am not the one carrying out these acts. I only regained my senses after the act. I am unable to understand myself,” he told reporters.

Double incident of murder

Speaking to reporters, the Mfoundi Territorial Gendarmerie Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo Jean Alain, noted that the case is a double incident of murder. This, he said, is because Batek is also a civil servant.

Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo said investigations into the matter advanced when the corpse of Ngo Yebe Epse Founga was discovered at the Etoa-Meki neighbourhood, on April 8, 2024. 

He said the exercise was made easy, thanks to surveillance cameras installed in some parts of Yaounde.

“He killed his grandmother”

Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo further stated that Batek will be equally prosecuted by the competent authorities for reportedly killing his grandmother, in November 2023.

“He killed his grandmother and took all the money she had, to buy whatever he wanted,” the security officer said, adding that he took the money and got himself involved in pleasurable ventures, such as betting and gambling.

He quipped that: “On April 6, he repeated the same trick, this time his victim was his mother, Ngo Yebel Founga”.

How Ngo Yebel fell into death trap

According to Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo, Ngo decided to visit her son, Batek, at his home in the Damas neighbourhood. Before the visit, she is said to have told the son she was bringing him foodstuffs.

Upon arrival, the security officer said, Ngo noticed all the equipment she had bought for Batek where nowhere to be found. She is reported to have insisted on seeing the items. 

She is said to have forced herself into the son’s room as she battled to understand where the equipment had gone to.

While insisting that Batek is addicted to gambling, Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo, said: “So his mother got angry and vowed not to support him. She had told him to forget about her as long as she didn’t see the household equipment she bought for him. He had told his mother that the equipment were in his room”.

As she accessed the room, the same security officer said Batek pushed her onto the bed and used a pillow to suffocate her to death. 

How he dismembered the mother’s body

Lieutenant Colonel Ndongo further recounted that when Batek, “realised that his victim was no longer breathing, he went out and bought a hacksaw which he used to dismember the body. He later packed the body parts in two bags”.

Withdraws 900,000 FCFA from mother’s phone to party 

The accused, the Lieutenant Colonel disclosed to reporters, after committing the act, withdrew 900,000 FCFA from his mother’s mobile money numbers in two phones and went drinking with friends.

The security officer further disclosed that the accused invited his friends to a snack in the Damas neighbourhood, where he threw a party. 
He is also said to have used the money to get for himself a Play Station, two phones and many other items.

Suspicious midnight errand 

While enjoying himself with friends after dismembering the body of his mother, Batek, the security officer said, asked to be excused at midnight. 

“…At about midnight, he excused himself, saying he had an errand to run. But in fact, the errand was to pick up the bags in which he had parked the remains of his mother to get rid of it,” the officer disclosed. 

He further narrated that Batek hired a taxi for 6,000 FCFA from Damas to the Etoa Meki vicinity. After arriving Etoa Meki, he is said to have removed the bags containing the mother’s body parts and dumped in water.

Reports also hold that, the next day, he begged one of his friends to help drive the mother’s car out of his compound, given that he doesn’t know how to drive. 

They are said to have taken the vehicle to the Soa neighbourhood, where it was abandoned alongside Ngo’s two phones and the key to the vehicle.

After the reconstitution of the crime, Batek was taken back to detention. Authorities said he will be handed over to competent judicial authorities for prosecution.

About the deceased

Louisette Ngo Yebel Epse Founga, was the Communication Officer of the Central African Forest Commission, COMIFA. 

She had been serving in that position since February 2019. She was holder of a Diploma in Corporate Communication and a Master's degree in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. 

She was also Head of Communication at TRAFFIC Central Africa Office, from September 2012 to November 2016.