By Our Reporter, With Agency reports
AN ENUGU State High Court on Wednesday sentenced one Miss Chiamaka Ifezue to death by hanging for killing Miss Ijeoma Nweke, a make-up artist on November 11, 2020
The court, presided over by Justice Kenneth Okpe, in a two-hour judgment, found the accused guilty of killing the deceased by forcing her to drink poisonous substance, which led to her death.
Justice Okpe said: “The defendant was in Count 2, charged under Section 274(1) of the Criminal Code Law of Enugu State Cap. 30 Revised Laws of Enugu State, 2004, which prescribes death sentence as punishment.”
He said that the defendant, though having a gentle mien, had the heart of steel. According to the judge, the defendant carried on through the trial with a sense of fulfilment that the mission was accomplished and that her freedom was a matter of time.
“There was no remorse shown from the beginning of trial to judgment day. I hereby sentence the defendant, Ifezue Chiamaka, to death by hanging until she is dead. May God have mercy on her,” Justice Okpe held.
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Nweke was said to have left her house on November 11, 2020 for a job but went missing thereafter until her corpse was found on November 16, 2020 in a refuse dump at Maryland area of Enugu
The Enugu State Director of Public Prosecution, Mrs C. C. Chigbo, described the judgment as victory for justice.
Ifezue and her brother, Chukwuemeka, were arraigned before the court on two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and murder in 2021.
They were accused of forcing Nneke to drink a poisonous substance that caused her death after which they allegedly dumped her body in the Maryland axis of the Enugu metropolis and poured a corrosive substance suspected to be acid on it.
During the trial, Justice Okpe discharged Chukwuemeka following a no-case submission pleaded by the defence counsel, Mr Chuma Oguejiofor.
In discharging him, the trial judge held that there was no evidence that Chukwuemeka participated in the crime.
However, delivering the final judgment on the case on Wednesday, Justice Okpe said the prosecution proved the case of murder against Ifezue beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court agreed with the submissions of Chinelo Chigbo, who led the prosecution from the Department of Public Prosecution, that the suspect was responsible for the death of the 27-year-old makeup artist based in Enugu.
During the trial, the court admitted in evidence police exhibits on the case of the alleged murder of the makeup artist.
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Chigbo led Prosecution Witness 7 (PW7), Sgt. Udeze Oguguo, a police officer, in evidence to tender the exhibits. Oguguo, who is attached to the Independence Layout Police Division in Enugu, said the exhibits were recovered from the scene of the crime.
The exhibits included five pieces of 20 British pounds, an iPhone 7 Plus with an MTN SIM card, another iPhone device and a Blackberry phone.
Others are a broken 9Mobile SIM card, an itel phone, another black phone (no brand name), an MTN SIM pack, and makeup tools belonging to the deceased.
Also tendered in evidence was the key of a Toyota Matrix car with number plate JJJ410BJ which was allegedly used to move the dead body of the deceased from the scene of the crime to where it was dumped.
The police officer told the court that the car that had been parked at the Police Anti-Kidnap Formation is no longer in good condition to be moved to the court. He also tendered hard copies of the WhatsApp messages and text messages the deceased had with her fiancé and girlfriend, respectively, while at the scene of the crime.
