Man stabbed in Norwich named as UEA student as suspect in his 20s charged with murder

A man who was stabbed and killed in university accommodation has been named as a UEA student.

Police were called to shared accommodation off Unthank Road, Norwich, on Saturday morning (November 22nd).

27-year-old Benjamin Katabana has since been charged with murder and is due to appear at Norwich Magistrates’ Court.

via Google Maps

Emergency services were called to Somerleyton House on Somerleyton Street at about 5:22am on Saturday.

A man in his 30s was pronounced dead at the scene due to a stab wound to the chest, a post-mortem concluded. Court documents confirmed him as Ucheena Okirie, a Nigerian post-graduate student at the University of East Anglia’s School of International Development.

A resident called Ben told Norwich Evening News: “There were shouts and all that sort of thing, and then the fire alarm went off.

“We all thought it was just another fire alarm. Everyone was in flip-flops and shorts. But then the police started turning up. I tried sleeping through it, but I couldn’t. There were like seven police cars.”

Another occupant said after the murder in Norwich on Saturday: “They’ll probably clear out and say we can go back soon, but I think there will be blood stains on the floor, and they won’t have cleared it up.”

Katabana, a Congolese national, will appear in court on November 24th.

Featured image via Canva