A 47-year-old Chinese national, Zhen Zhen, attempted to kill her lover, Leo Feng, 41, when she set Ernest Hotel in the Ikeja area of Lagos on fire.
The hotel attendant, Emeka Nwaegbo, said this at the resumed hearing of the case at the Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s court.
Nwaegbo told the court that Zhen accused Feng of sleeping with her without giving her food, which informed her decision.
She said that the lovers were customers at the hotel, adding that Feng, who was indebted to the hotel, dropped his personal effects, including passport, to assure the management that he would pay his outstanding debts.
“I was conducting a routine check round the hotel when I discovered that the frontage of their room was littered with cigarette stubs and broken plates.
“When I asked the female suspect what happened, she said the man starved her for two days and that was why she wanted to burn him in the room. She said, ‘Two days, I no chop. I wan make e die.
“Some minutes later, Feng came downstairs saying he wanted to collect what he dropped at the reception. I gave him everything, except his passport.”
The attendant said as Feng was stepping out, someone raised the alarm about fire, adding that he discovered that the fire started from the suspects’ room.
Zhen, who spoke through an interpreter, denied the allegation, saying the fire started from a television in the room.
The defendants were ordered to be remanded in prison until they perfected their bail conditions.
The case was adjourned till August 9, 2016.