Court sentences 40 -year- old farmer to death for murder

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

A High Court sitting at Ughelli has sentenced a 40 -year -old farmer,
Alex Obigho to death by hanging for the murder of the 
steward/cook to the traditional ruler of Kiagbodo community.

The court presided over by Justice Olotu. Akpovi while delivering the judgement found the accused person guilty of the one -count charge of murder proffered against him by the state and accordingly, sentenced him to death by hanging.

Okunu Diafa, a native of Kiagbodo community was brutally murdered on June 22, 2012 at the boundary between Oviri-Olomu of Ughelli South Local Government and Kiagbodo in Burutu Local Government.

His gruesome murder had heightened tension between the once peaceful communities, but for the quick intervention of the traditional rulers of both communities who doused the tension.

Justice Akpovi in his judgement commended the traditional rulers of
both communities for handling the matter with maturing by not allowing the matter snow-ball into a full blown crisis because of the unreasonable action of one man who took the laws into his hands.

“The deceased was not armed and the level of damage was unreasonable. The accused did not report the matter to the police for investigation; rather he killed the man and absconded, and sold his phone.

“This shows that the accused is hardened. He had the option to arrest the deceased and hand him over to the police, instead of taking the laws into his hands” the court held.

The trial judge who declined the plea for allocutus by the counsel to
the accused, who begged the court to mitigate the sentence by imposing a lesser punishment, said that his hands were tied as the evidence before the court were overwhelming that the accused ambushed the deceased while armed with a cutlass with the intention to kill

Our correspondent reports that the accused in his defence alleged that the deceased was a thief who was responsible for stealing his farm produce, adding that on the fateful day, he caught the deceased in his farm and on sighting him, the deceased took to his heels.

According to the defendant, he pursued the deceased and a fight ensued, and in the process he inflicted severe machete cuts on the
deceased which led to his death.