A Congolese national, Benjamin Katabana, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his Nigerian roommate, Uchenna Okirie, in Norwich, England, after a court found that he deliberately lured the victim into a fatal knife attack.
Katabana, 28, was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison before he can be considered for parole following his conviction at Norwich Crown Court.
The victim, 33-year-old Okirie, a Nigerian and former economics student at the University of East Anglia, was stabbed to death on November 22, 2025, inside Somerleyton House, a residential building on Somerleyton Street where both men lived.
Court proceedings revealed that Katabana contacted Okirie through WhatsApp and persuaded him to leave his room for a meeting in the building’s communal corridor. CCTV footage later showed the two men meeting moments before the attack.
Prosecutors said Katabana, who had armed himself with a knife before the encounter, suddenly launched the assault while Okirie was using his mobile phone.
He stabbed the Nigerian once in the chest before inflicting further blows and kicking him repeatedly as he lay helpless on the floor.
Emergency services responded to the incident shortly after 6 a.m., but Okirie was pronounced dead at the scene.
A post-mortem examination identified a stab wound to the chest as the cause of death, BBC reported.
After carrying out the attack, Katabana activated the building’s fire alarm and made his way to Bethel Street Police Station, where he surrendered himself.
According to investigators, he told officers upon arrival: “I have killed someone, I think.”
Despite extensive investigations, police never recovered the knife used in the killing. During interviews, Katabana repeatedly declined to answer questions, responding only with “no comment.”
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Katabana admitted to manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility, but prosecutors successfully argued that the killing was intentional. The jury subsequently found him guilty of murder.
While delivering the sentence, Judge Bate said the defendant had a pattern of resolving conflicts through violence.
The court heard that Katabana had five previous convictions involving seven offences, including an earlier attack in which he kicked a victim in the head after the person had fallen to the ground.
Although the defence cited the defendant’s traumatic upbringing in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a contributing factor, the prosecution maintained that the evidence pointed to a planned attack because Katabana had armed himself before summoning Okirie.
Senior investigating officer Alix Wright of Norfolk Police described the incident as a calculated and unprovoked killing.
She said Katabana intentionally arranged the meeting through WhatsApp before attacking the unsuspecting victim with a knife, adding that the police hoped the conviction would bring some comfort to the Nigerian’s grieving family.
Okirie was remembered during the trial as a University of East Anglia graduate who had studied economics and was living in Norwich at the time of his death.
The court heard he had no opportunity to defend himself before the fatal assault.
