Chukwudi Onweniwe was brought before the court on a four-count charge of endangering life, kidnapping and abduction, rape and murder. According to the prosecutor, Jumoke Ogunjebi, Chukwudi abducted the deceased and took her “to a farm near Alayere, Ogbese, raped her and then snuffed life out of her by choking and strangulating her to death.”
It was a motorcyclist who reported the suspicious movement of the accused person and the deceased at the Police station. He also testified in the case.
Testifying, the mother of the deceased, Mrs Adeyeoye, said her daughter had informed her she was going to visit her friend on the day she went missing. Adeyeoye claimed she did not know the accused person though he was said to be her daughter’s boyfriend. She said she didn’t see or hear from her daughter again until the police asked her to come to identify her body in the morgue.
Justice Bola said an autopsy was carried out by one Dr. Pelemo, a staff of Ondo state Specialist Hospital, Akure, who described the abnormal state of the deceased’s neck and fracture of her skull. This suggested she had been attacked with a blunt object.
The judge stated that the accused person had confessed to the officers of the squad according to the testimony of one Ayoola Famoriyo and had taken his team to the spot where he hid the corpse of the deceased. The corpse was then conveyed to the morgue while the stone found near her head with which he purportedly hit her skull was taken to the Police station as an exhibit.
Famoriyo had further testified that a search of the accused person’s room had revealed the deceased’s belongings such as a school bag, wallet, some GNLD products, her phone and 22 passport photographs.
The father of the accused, Nwosu Onweniwe, while giving evidence in defence of his son told the court that the deceased was his son’s girlfriend who had been very helpful to him, Vanguard reports.
Meanwhile, after examining all facts of the case, Justice Bola while delivering judgment said that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt in three out of the four count charges The judge observed that the prosecution failed to prove the case of rape against the accused person.
He, therefore, found him guilty as charged on three counts and sentenced him as charged.
Justice Bola said: “On the count of kidnapping, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, on strangulating and choking, he was sentenced to death by hanging and on murder, he was also sentenced to death by hanging.”
