The Anambra State High Court sitting in Idemili Judicial Division has sentenced a man, Ikechukwu Okoye, to death by hanging for murdering a woman with mortar pestle and stealing her property.
Justice A.O. Okuma, who presided over the court convicted Okoye on charges of murder and stealing in Charge No. HID/24C/2024, State v. Ikechukwu Okoye.
The prosecution, led by Mrs Victoria Ononye-Ekwerekwu, Chief State Counsel, with Mrs Chineze Abadom-Igweike and Ms Nkiru Nzekwu, Principal State Counsels, told the court that Okoye went to the residence of Mrs Blessing Mba at Abime Village, Oba, on Feb. 22, 2024, to take her grinding machine.
According to the report, an argument ensued between the man and the woman, during which Okoye struck her on the head with a mortar pestle, resulting to her death.
The prosecution said the defendant dragged the deceased’s body into her children’s room, covered it with their clothes and took away her grinding machine and electric generating set.
It said Okoye thereafter boarded a commercial motorcycle to Afor Oba Market with the stolen items.
Later, the deceased’s husband, who had earlier taken their children to school, spotted the defendant on the motorcycle with his wife’s grinding machine and generating set.
The husband, upon returning home, discovered his wife’s lifeless body in the children’s room and alerted security operatives, who then arrested Okoye at Afor Oba Market with the stolen items.
The prosecution said the defendant initially claimed that his sister had directed him to take the items to the security office but was unable to produce or contact the said sister when asked to do so.
The defendant, in his defence, denied the offence, disowned his extra-judicial statement in which he allegedly admitted committing the offence and pleaded self-defence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Okuma held that the defence of self-defence was not available to the defendant.
The court, however, held that the charge of armed robbery could not be sustained because the defendant had killed the deceased before forming the intention to steal her properties.
The court consequently convicted Okoye for murder and stealing and sentenced him to death by hanging.
Reacting to the ruling, the Secretary, Law Officers Association of Nigeria, Anambra State Chapter, N. S. Emeka Esq., described the judgment as yet another testament to the industry, dexterity and resilience of Law Officers in the Anambra State Ministry of Justice.
