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Tag: Husband killer

  • Husband’s killer sentenced to death by hanging

    Husband’s killer sentenced to death by hanging

    The High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Wednesday sentenced 30-year-old Victoria Gariga to death by hanging for killing her husband, Henry.

    The court presided over by Justice Nayai Aganaba said the woman committed the crime on February 4, 2015 at their residence along Ebisam road in Akenfa, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The victim, a lawyer from Sagbama local government area of the state and the convict from Brass were cohabiting for years before they legalised their union in 2014.

    The union was yet to produce children before the unfortunate incident.

    On the fateful day, Victoria stabbed her husband on the neck following a misunderstanding.

    He was confirmed dead by doctors at the hospital.

    Aganaba while reading his judgement said the prosecution called six witnesses and produced seven exhibits while the defence lawyer had only one witness who happened to be the accused person.

    Aganaba, who went through his records, averred that the onus of proof rested with the prosecution in line with the three ingredients to prove a murder case.

    He named the elements of murder as the actual death of the deceased, that the death was caused by the accused person and that the action of the accused person was intentional with the knowledge that death or grievous bodily harm was its probable consequence.

    The judge asserted that the circumstantial evidence against the accused was overwhelming, adding that all facts confirmed she was the only person with the deceased at the time of death and the only person with the opportunity to kill him.

    He said Victoria committed a murder of passion caused by jealousy since the couple were obsessed with each other.

    He said: “It is unfortunate that I can only pronounce the sentence prescribe by law. I wish I had the discretion to do otherwise.

    “However that discretion rests with the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State. I am only left with the compulsion to pronounce the sentence prescribed by law. I hope that the person with the discretion would look at the circumstance of this case and do the needful.

    “I hereby pronounce my sentence. My sentence upon you is that you shall hang on the neck until you die. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

  • ‘Husband-killer’ Maryam Sanda denied bail

    ‘Husband-killer’ Maryam Sanda denied bail

    •Returned to Suleja prison 

    Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi, Abuja, yesterday refused the oral application for bail made on behalf of Maryam Sanda, and ordered her returned to Suleja prison pending her re-arraignment next Thursday.

    “I will not grant her bail; all arguments about her bail shall be taken together at the next adjourned date when other co-defendants will be in court. Therefore, the defendant shall be taken back to prison, he said.

    At the last adjourned date, the FCT Police Command, in a two-count charge, accused Maryam, daughter of a former Executive Director of Aso Savings and Loans, Hajiya Maimuna Aliyu Sanda, of killing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, the son of Alhaji Bello Haliru Muhammad, a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The police said Maryam caused Bello’s death “by stabbing him on the chest with a broken bottle; this you did with the knowledge that your act is likely to cause his death.”

    Upon her arraignment on November 24, the court ordered that she be remanded in prison after she pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    But yesterday, Police Prosecutor James Idachaba told the court of an amended charge before the court, which added Maryam’s mother, Maimuna Aliyu, and two others,  as defendants.

    He, however, said efforts to serve Maimuna and others were unsuccessful, urging the court to adjourn till next Thursday to enable the police bring all defendants to court to take their pleas.

    Maryam’s new lawyer Chief Joseph Daudu (SAN) urged the court to listen to the bail application filed on her behalf.

    He also made an oral bail application, pleaded with Justice Halilu to release Maryam on temporary bail, saying the prison condition was unwholesome for Maryam’s six-month-old baby.

    “It is unfortunate that a life has been lost already, but we should not take more lives,” he pleaded.

    But with another objection by the police prosecutor, Justice Halilu held that he is not disposed to grant the oral application since issues have been joined on the formal application for bail.

    But Justice Halilu ruled in favour of the prosecutor, saying the bail would be taken after the re-arraignment.

    “The defendant, in the mean time, shall be returned to the prison pending Thursday, December 14,” the judge said.

    He earlier ordered Maryam’s daughter, who is in the custody of a relative, taken out of court for crying.

  • Another man kills wife in Lagos

    Another man kills wife in Lagos

    Less than one month after Lekan Shonde reportedly killed his wife in Egbeda area of Lagos State, another man, Friday, allegedly murdered his wife at their no 8 Araromi area of the state.

    According to the sister in-in-law who simply identified herself as Vero, the suspect, James Kafaru Esougie, slashed his wife, Roseline’s throat while she was asleep.

    Unlike Lekan who ran away after he reportedly committed the crime, Vero said James didn’t run away but started manifesting strange characters when they became aware of the incident.

    Vero said: “We were sleeping when my sister’s husband came out to wake the first son to go and urinate. This was about 4am.  When the boy went in to wake the mother, he saw that she was not responding.  He shook her vigorously and got no response and quickly ran to call me. When I got there, I also shook her with the aim of waking her but got no response. Touching her legs, I observed that it was very cold. I shuddered and quickly removed that cloth on her face.

    ‘It was then that I saw that the husband had used a knife to slash her neck. He cut the vein that holds the neck and the head. She was in a pool of her own blood. Goose pimples overwhelmed me and the children. They were traumatized as they saw the lifeless body of the mother drenched with blood.

    “When we were doing all these, the husband sat on the floor vomiting black things and defecating right there. Thereafter, I raised the alarm and neighbours came to apprehend him.  The police was later invited to whisk him away.”

    Asked if the couple used to quarrel before the murder, Vero said:  “They used to quarrel a lot. The husband was always beating her. We severally told her to leave the house for him but she declined, preferring to endure for the sake of her children.  It was her resolve to endure that eventually caused her, her life. She gave birth to five children for him. They are both from Auchi, in Edo State. My sister was a petty trader but the husband doesn’t have any known job. As far as I know, he is jobless. It was my sister that was responsible for providing for the needs of the family. ”

    The rest of  deceased’s  siblings were in pensive mood obviously trying to fathom the fate that befell  their sister as Vero tearfully relived the account of how the sister was gruesomely murdered in  the building that houses several shops where clothing and other house hold items are sold.

    Seething anger glaringly stood on the face Philip, the deceased’s younger brother when The Nation sought his comment on the incident. He paced up and down in the apartment looking downcast.

    “My late sister’s husband married her when she was in the secondary school. He was initially working as a trailer driver before he lost his job. He has been jobless since then.  We have been asking her to park out all along but she refused. It is unfortunate that she ended up being sacrificed by the man she gave her all.”

    Shop owners in the building sat sorrowfully in groups at the entrance of the house bemoaning the fate that befell the deceased. Some of them who spoke with our correspondent said they saw the deceased when she returned from her business place around 8pm on Thursday. They said the husband became unusually aggressive earlier in the week as he quarreled with everybody that stood on his way.

    “The man was very aggressive all through Wednesday and good part of Thursday. He was smoking and feverishly puffing the smoke of the cigarette into the air. He kept   throwing away every chair and table that he saw on the way and also quarrelling with everybody that saw.  We never knew that he was preparing the ground for the dastardly act he wanted to carry out.

    “The wife sells frozen food at Ijora. We were outside when she returned from her business place Thursday.  She was looking very tired and sick. When we asked her what the matter was, she said she wasn’t feeling healthy. When we told her to take some days off and rest, she said it would not be possible immediately because she needed to hustle to get money to pay her children’s school fees. She said she would take time to rest after paying the school fees.  She had earlier paid the rent. Unfortunately, the rest will end up becoming an eternal one,” one of the traders said.

    Another trader said: “The deceased was a gentle person. She was always going out early and coming back late in the night. We are all aware that she was the breadwinner of the family because the husband was always idle. I have serious concern about the future of the children. Before they were taking away by the deceased’s family, they were seriously hungry.  They had to go and borrow matches to lit the stove to make something for them to eat.”

     

  • Court remands alleged husband’s killer in prison

    Court remands alleged husband’s killer in prison

    An Ibadan Chief Magistrate Court, Iyaganku, Ibadan Friday remanded Mrs. Yewande Oyeniran, who allegedly stabbed her husband, Lowo Oyeniran, to death on February 2, 2016, at Akobo, Ibadan, in prison custody.

    There was a mild drama at the premises of the court between the two family members of the couples, who were singing abusive songs against one another.

    The presiding chief magistrate, Mrs Kehinde Durosaro-Tijani, in the case marked: MI/1539/2016, ordered that the accused should be remanded in Agodi Prisons and adjourned the case to February 16, for mention.
    The prosecuting police officer, Inspector Amos Adewale, had preferred one-count charge against the suspect, who pleaded not guilty.

    The prosecutor, told the court that Yewande on February 2, 2016 “at about 06:10am at No 30 Abidi Odan Akobo area, Ibadan in the Ibadan Magisterial District did unlawfully caused the death of one Oyelowo Oyediran, 38, by stabbing him with knife on the neck, which later resulted to his death.”

    He further told the court that the accused had committed an offence contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Cap 38 Vol II Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.

    The lead defence counsel, Mr. Seun Abimbola, had applied that the court should remand Yewande in police custody because she was traumatised as a result of the incident, but the magistrate refused.

    Abimbola further appealed that he would bring written application for the request to the court, but the court noted that it did not have jurisdiction to entertain such application based on the nature of the case.

    But a fast one was played on the journalists that positioned themselves near the Black Maria that was to convey Yewande and other accused persons to Agodi Prisons. While waiting for Yewande to enter the Black Maria, some officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service threatened to attack the journalists and break their cameras.

    However, the suspect was conveyed out of the court premises in a blue Primera Nissan car purportedly owns by a lawyer, while other accused persons meant to be remanded in Agodi Prisons were conveyed in a Black Maria.

    When leaving the court room, Yewande was led downstairs through the staircases in the dock, which prevented journalists from capturing her picture. She was led through Court Five into the blue Nissan primera car probably to shield her from the waiting cameras of the journalists.

    In his remark, a legal practitioner, Mr. Sina Olaniyan, described the accused as a person that has high regards for due process of the law and of good character.

    “But this is a test for the judiciary. It is going to be a test for the Nigerian Bar Association as whole. The members of the public are watching to see where the pendulum of justice will swing. She is till presumed innocent until she is proved otherwise,” he added.

    Similarly, another legal practitioner, Mr. Adeleke Bakare, described Yewande as a very amiable and gentle person, and a dedicated person to her job.

    He added that: “She is somebody who fights against crime and she is always here, doing her job as a prosecutor, diligently.
    “The person I have known that always discourage crime has now been involved a crime and it is a crime we can describe as of highest magnitude, which has highest punishment known to the law. Honestly, I am surprised.”