Dutchman Jailed for Life for Murder Linked to False Marriage Scam

Undated images of Jurick Croes (L), who was convicted of murder, and Raichell Felomina (R), who was convicted of false imprisonment after a trial at the Old Bailey in London on May 28, 2024. Metropolitan Police

LONDON—A Dutchman has been jailed for life for the murder of a man who was stabbed to death after he tried to prevent his mother—who was involved in a false marriage scam—from being robbed.

Riches Obi, 25, was stabbed repeatedly and bled to death in the hallway of a flat in Elephant and Castle, south London, on Nov. 17, 2020.

His mother, Bernadette Ortet—a case worker with a firm of immigration solicitors—was found by police tied up in a bedroom, with a scarf around her neck.

On Friday, Jurick Croes, 38, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years for the murder of Mr. Obi.

Raichell Felomina, 39, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for falsely imprisoning Ms. Ortet.

Suvenca Martis, 33, was jailed for a total of 11-and-a-half years for false imprisonment and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

She was given a concurrent sentence of five years after pleading guilty to five separate drug offences after police found heroin, crack cocaine, and MDMA at her flat, which she claimed she was looking after for a boyfriend.

Judge Nigel Lickley, KC said Felomina and Martis—who were both acquitted of murder and manslaughter—are both eligible for automatic deportation to the Netherlands once they have completed their sentences.

Killer and Accomplices Grew Up on Dutch Caribbean Island

Croes, Felomina, and Martis are all Dutch nationals who grew up on the Caribbean island of Curacao, which is part of the Netherlands.

Judge Lickley said he believed they had jointly hatched a plot to tie up Ms. Ortet and steal cash from what he called the “false marriage scam,” which they thought was in the flat.

It is not clear if any money was taken because Ms. Ortet and her daughter Olive Obi did not cooperate with the police and left the country soon after the murder.

Ms. Ortet now lives in Nigeria and Ms. Obi is believed to be in the United States.

Judge Lickley said the evidence suggested Ms. Obi arrived at the flat before the police on the day of the murder and removed a suitcase and a box but left her mother tied up.

He said, “What she removed has not been ascertained.”

Undated images of Suvenca Martis (R) who was acquitted of murdering Riches Obi (L) but was convicted of falsely imprisoning his mother at a flat in London in November 2020. Metropolitan Police

Felomina and Martis originally went on trial on their own in spring 2023 because Croes had fled to Colombia and remained beyond the reach of the law.

Their trial collapsed after Martis sought her legal team and, after Croes was extradited in December 2023, all three went on trial together in April 2024.

Croes was the only one who gave evidence but on Friday, prosecutor Jennifer Knight, KC said the jury’s verdict made it clear they did not believe his claim that Mr. Obi came at him armed with two knives and he disarmed him and then stabbed him with the same blades.

Ms. Ortet had a legitimate job as a case worker for Obadiah Rose Solicitors, a firm specialising in immigration and nationality cases.

False Marriage Scam Cooked Up During Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in spring 2020, Ms. Ortet was given permission to work from home.

During the trials Croes and Felomina both admitted they were involved in a sham marriage scheme, in which they were to be paid to marry Nigerian women in order to help them evade immigration controls. Martis denied she was involved in the scam.

There is no suggestion Obadiah Rose Solicitors were involved in the scam.

Detectives discovered a number of passports and false employment contracts in the flat which they believed were linked to the scam.

Croes told the trial he had been promised £12,000 to marry a Nigerian national called Loretta Ozoh but he said the money was never paid.

He claimed he arrived at the flat to ask for his money, but Judge Lickley said he was convinced the trio plotted to rob Ms. Ortet and he said the murder was a “predictable” consequence of their criminal plan, when Mr. Obi tried to resist and protect his mother.

Ms. Ortet has since returned to her native Nigeria and was not a witness at the trial.

But she gave a victim impact statement, which was read out in court on Thursday by Ms. Knight.

In it she described being in a “bottomless pit of grief” since her son was murdered.

Ms. Ortet, who sent her statement to the police from Nigeria, said, “If perfect were a person it would be my beloved son Riches.”

She said he was the “cornerstone” of her family and since his death she has found great difficulty sleeping, being tormented by thoughts of his death and hearing the voices of what she described as “his killers.”

Ms. Ortet said Croes and the other two had shown a complete “lack of remorse.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the name of the judge. The Epoch Times regrets the error.