By Vera E. Abah, with Agency report
AN Ikeja High Court on Thursday sentenced a couple, Fortune and Stephen Nwankwo, to 14 and two years’ imprisonment respectively for the involuntary murder of their 19-year-old housemaid, Joy Adole.
Delivering judgement, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, held that the prosecution had convincingly proved the charge of manslaughter, conspiracy, and attempt to pervert justice and misconduct as regards a corpse against Mrs Nwankwo.
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The court convicted Mr Nwankwo of the charges of conspiracy and attempt to pervert justice, misconduct as regards a corpse, and accessory after the fact of felonies.
She, however, discharged and acquitted them on the charges of accessory after the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to felonies.
Justice Ogala said the court was convinced that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were not only strong but also corroborated the fact that the housemaid died due to the beating by Mrs Nwankwo (first defendant).
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“The first defendant beat the deceased which caused her death as she had not been feeling well prior to the incident.
“The defendants did not inform or call the family of the deceased from 5a.m. when they found out she had died until noon when the second defendant called the sister of the deceased and asked for her full name and other personal information to enable them to embalm her in the morgue.
“The second defendant, having found out that the first defendant had killed the deceased due to the beating, assisted her in perverting the course of justice by hanging the body with a rope.
“There were three adults in the house. The defendants and the housemaid. The defendants were the last two adults that got in contact with the housemaid before her death.
“The hanging was staged and the deceased was hung by a rope and the position the police found her body did not depict suicide as her feet were on the floor,” she said.
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The judge further held that the defendants tampered with the evidence as they had already embalmed the body which made it difficult for the toxicologist to carry out an autopsy as the cause of death was uncertain.
“Dr Sunday Sokunle-soyemi, testified before the court that the body of the deceased was embalmed before she was brought for autopsy.
“As a result, the cause of death cannot be ascertained as the body should not have been embalmed before autopsy.
“In the circumstance of this case where medical evidence is inconclusive, the court shall infer evidence on the pieces of evidence available.
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“The doctor said the toxicology could not be performed because the defendants had embalmed the deceased before embalmment could be carried out.
“The defendants are the last couple to be seen with the deceased. The circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
“It is also imperative to say that the evidence of the investigative police officer (IPO) on what he saw at the scene can never be hearsay. Evidence of an IPO is never to be referred to as hearsay as contended by the defence in this case,” Justice Ogala said.
The judge, thereafter, sentenced the first defendant to 14 years for involuntary manslaughter and five years for an attempt to pervert the course of justice and misconduct as regards a corpse and ordered that it must run concurrently.
The judge also sentenced the second defendant to two years’ imprisonment, following the allocutus of the defence counsel. O. I. Barrah, in his allocutus, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the defendants were a young couple and had two little children ages two and one.
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“We plead with the court to temper justice with mercy. They are a young couple and their children are just one and two years respectively. The court should consider the ages of the children.
“The defendants do not have any criminal record prior to this. I pray my lord to show them mercy,” Mr Barrah said.
NAN reports that the prosecution counsel, Sule Yusuf did not make any submission to the court, following the allocutus of the defence counsel.
The prosecution had charged the defendants with an eight-count amendment bordering on conspiracy, involuntary manslaughter, misconduct with regards to the corpse, accessory after the fact to felonies and accessory after the fact to murder.
The prosecution submitted that the defendants committed the offence on April 20, 2020, at No.18, Ogundola St, Bariga, Lagos State.
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The defence had made a no-case submission when prosecution closed its case on October 12, 2021, after calling eight witnesses.
The court turned down the application on November 24, 2021, for lack of merit, and asked the defendants to open their defence.
Flashback
It will be recalled that on Sunday, April 20, 2020, the Lagos State CID, Alagbon arrested and detained Mr and Mrs Nwankwo over the death of 19-year-old Joy Okom Adole, their house maid.
Mrs Nwankwo was arraigned on Wednesday, 29th April, 2020 before a Senior Magistrate’s Court sitting at Yaba and was subsequently remanded in prison where she was held until her arraignment on January 21, 2021 at the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court.
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