A prostitute , who gave her name simply as Becky, yesterday broke down and wept after the man who promised to marry her, disappeared with her N580,000, at the Ajegunle area of Lagos State.

According to Becky, who had gone to report the matter to the police, the N580,000, was money she had saved, which the fleeing suspect, Stephen Onyeukwu, ought to use to pay her bride price.

Onyeukwu was supposed to have gone to save the money in a bank account, pending when they were both ready for the marriage. But he disappeared with it. Becky said: “I never knew he is a fraudster.

He went to bank and did not pay the money. Each time I called him on phone, he would tell me to forget about the money that I was his ‘ Mugu ’ (prey ). He said I would never see him in Ajegunle again.

He tricked me and I fell for him. ” Onyeukwu was said to have met Becky in a hotel on Ojo Road where he expressed his love for her . They started dating and were eight months into the relationship, when Onyeukwu proposed marriage, Becky accepted.

She recounted : “ Stephen used to sleep in my hotel room. He would wait for me to service my last customer for the day. On that fateful Friday, I gave him N 580,000 to pay into my bank account.

He disappeared since then. I knew something was wrong when I didn ’t receive alert . ” Becky said that every time she called , he would yell at her to stop troubling him . “God will never forgive him. I know how many men had sex with me before I saved that amount.

He promised to marry me and even went with me to our church. Our pastor liked him. He swore that he would marry me or he would die . He told me that he would never disappoint me . I believed him because of the way he was behaving.

“We were preparing to get married and I gave him the money so that he would have money to pay for my dowry. I told one of my police friend and the police are looking for him. I have been crying since that day. I cannot sleep. I love him apart from the money. But now I have lost all. I lost my love and I lost my money.”

He would wait for me to service my last customer for the day. On that fateful Friday, I gave him N 580,000 to pay into my bank account