Court remands lawyer alleged to have killed her husband in Kirikiri

A Yaba Lagos Chief Magistrate, Kikelomo Ayeye on Wednesday rejected the request of the defence counsel not to remand Udeme Odibi, a lawyer accused of allegedly stabbing the husband to death and therefore ruled that she be sent to the Kirikiri prison.

Udeme Odibi was arraigned on a charge of murder, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) which also said that her plea was not taken by the court.

Effiong Asuquo, the Officer in Charge of Legal Department of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department Panti (SCIID), told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 3 at Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, alleging also that the accused had stabbed her husband, Otike, with a knife, spilling his intestines before proceeding to cut off his genitals.

He also said that the accused tried to commit suicide by inflicting injuries on herself before she was stopped and rushed to the hospital. He therefore prayed the court to remand the accused in prison for the next 30 days.

He said that the case file had been duplicated and sent to the State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to obtain legal advice.

NAN reports that the offence contravened Sections 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which prescribes death sentence.

Counsel to the accused, Oluseye Bamijoko, however, asked the court to remand the accused at the Ikoyi Prisons instead of Kirikiri prisons to allow neurologists and endocrinologists attend to her thyroid disease.

Bamijoko told the court that the accused is currently undergoing psychiatric and private evaluation and pleaded that his client be remanded at Ikoyi prison since the specialists attending to her are within Ikoyi/Victoria Island axis.

But Magistrate Kikelomo ruled that since Ikoyi prison does not have facilities for female inmates, the accused should be remanded at Kirikiri prison.

“Being at Kirikiri does not stop the specialists and endocrinologists from visiting and it’s sad that the Ikoyi prison lacks facilities for the female gender,’’ Mrs Ayeye said.

She, however, ordered that the accused be given privacy when interacting with her counsel or family members without the interruption of a third party (the presence of prison warders).

The chief magistrate also said that the burial of the deceased, which was scheduled to hold on Thursday, be put on hold.