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Tag: Udeme Otike-Odibi

  • Alleged murder: Court to rule on lawyer’s request April 11

    Should Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos High Court discountenance the conjessional statements of female lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, accused of killing her husband Symphorosa on May 3, last year.

    The court is to conduct a trial-within-trial to determine whether or not to reject the statement.

    The defendant through her counsel Oluseye Banjoko prayed the court to reject the statements, but the prosecutor, Babatunde Sunmonu, demanded for a trial-within-trial to determine the action to take.

    Banjoko urged the court to reject the statements, because the law was not followed in obtaining them from his client.

    The statements, he said,  were not obtained in accordance with Section 93 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State, 2015.

     

     

     

  • Murder of husband: lawyer asks court to reject her confessional statement

    Justice Adedayo Akintoye will on April 11 rule whether or not to conduct a trial-within-trial on the confessional statement made by a female lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, standing trial for the murder of her lawyer-husband, Symphorosa Odibi.

    Justice Adedayo fixed the date after taking submissions from counsel in the matter.

    At resumed proceeding on Thursday, Otike-Odibi’s counsel, Mr Oluseye Banjoko, prayed the court not to conduct a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of two confessional statements allegedly made by her during police investigations.

    He urged the court to reject the alleged confessional statements pointing out that the provision of the law was not followed.

    He told the court that the statements were not obtained in accordance with the provisions of Section 93 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State, 2015.

    Banjoko argued that the constitution provided that the statement of any person arrested must be made in the presence of a lawyer or videoed to ensure transparency.

    He said the request by the defence was to avoid a waste of time in conducting a trial-within-trial to determine admissibility of statements.

    The Prosecutor, Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey (DPP), represented by Babatunde Sunmonu, submitted that the constitution provided that the substantive law to be adhered to in determining the admissibility of any piece of evidence would be the Evidence Act.

    Sunmomu said that the ACJL on which the defence counsel was leaning on was a procedural law which could not supercede the evidence act.

    To buttress his submission, Sunmonu cited two Court of Appeal cases which included Chijioke Emmanuel versus Federal Republic of Nigeria decided April 2018 saying that the appellate court in the matter held that the provisions of the evidence act should be followed in proving the admissibility of any piece of evidence.

    He said the Court of Appeal went further to state that Section 93 of ACJL was only relevant to the weight to be attached to the admissibility of any evidence after a trial-within-trial had been conducted.

    He therefore urged the court to proceed with the trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of the statements allegedly made by Otike-Odibi.

    Responding on points of law, Banjoko said that the cases which the prosecution cited during their argument did not comply with the provisions of Section 14 of the Evidence Act which stated that “evidence obtained in contravention of a law is inadmissible”.

    Banjoko, urged the court to consider his arguments.

    The prosecution also replied the defence on points of law and argued that it is not how evidence was obtained that determines its admissibility.

    “So far allegations of torture, incitement, or inducement were not mentioned, whether there was video recording or presence of a lawyer during statement taking, such will not render the statement in-admissible”.

    After listening to the submissions of counsel, Justice Akintoye adjourned the matter till April 11 for ruling.

    Udeme Otike-Odibi was arraigned on June 13, 2018, on a two-count charge of murder of her husband, Symphorosa, and misconduct with regard to his corpse.

    According to the prosecutor, Udeme stabbed Symphorosa, also a lawyer, to death and mutilated his corpse by cutting off his genitals, on May 3, 2018.

    The prosecutor alleged that the defendant committed the offences at their residence on Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos State.

    She said that the offences contravened Sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Udeme, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

  • Reject my confession, lawyer accused of cutting husband’s manhood tells court

    A female lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, charged with killing her husband and cutting his manhood, yesterday asked a Lagos High Court in Igbosere to reject the confessional statement she made to the police after the incident.

    She told Justice Adedayo Akintoye that the statement was inadmissible because it was neither taken in her lawyer’s presence nor video recorded as, according to her, required by law.

    On January 23, a prosecution witness, Mr. Olusegun Bamidele, told the court that Udeme, 48, hit Symphorosa on the head with a frying pan several times before stabbing him in the stomach with a kitchen knife.

    Bamidele said Udeme, still furious, sat beside her husband’s body on the bed and said: “‘If this your manhood is the one that is giving you licence not to have the feeling of another person, it’s better we cut it off.”

    She then allegedly cut off the manhood before putting a piece of it in his right hand.

    Following a dispute, the judge adjourned till yesterday for a trial within trial to determine the admissibility of the defendant’s confessional statements.

    At the resumption of hearing, Udeme’s counsel, Mr. Oluseye Banjoko, brought an application asking the court not to conduct the trial within trial.

    Banjoko argued that the Constitution required that the statement of any person arrested must be made in the presence of a lawyer or must be videoed.

    He said Section 93 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State 2015 also made it mandatory that to achieve transparency in statements taken, the above law (Constitution) must be followed.

    “Why the law was made was so that we do not waste the time of the court in going into trial within trial to determine admissibility of the said statement.

    “Our application is for an order rejecting the alleged confessional statement since the provisions of the law was not followed,” Banjoko said.

    But prosecuting counsel Titilayo Shitta-Bey opposed him.

    Shitta-Bey, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), argued that the Constitution stated that the substantive law to be adhered to in determining the admissibility of any piece of evidence was the Evidence Act 2011.

    Relying on case law, she said the ACJL which was referred to by Banjoko, “is a procedural law which cannot supercede the Evidence Act”.

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    “The court should be allowed to proceed with the trial within trial to determine the admissibility of the defendant’s statements,” Shitta-Bey added.

    However, when the defence counsel could not proceed with his reply on points of law, Justice Akintoye adjourned till April 21 for further hearing.

    Udeme was arraigned last June 13 on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a body.

    Shitta-Bey accused Udeme of stabbing Symphorosa Otike-Odibi, also a lawyer, to death and mutilating his body by cutting his manhood on May 3, 2018, at their Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos, home.

    The prosecutor said the offences contravened sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Udeme pleaded not guilty and was remanded in prison custody.

  • ‘Lawyer bashed hubby’s head with frying pan before cutting off penis’

    A Lagos High Court in Igbosere on Wednesday heard a chilling, blow- by- blow account of how a lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, allegedly killed her lawyer husband Symphorosa Otike-Odibi and severed his penis.

    A prosecution witness, Mr Olusegun Bamidele, told Justice Adedayo Akintoye that Udeme, 48, whacked Symphorosa on the head with a frying pan several times before stabbing him on the stomach with a kitchen knife.

    Still furious, she sat beside his corpse on the bed and said: “‘If this your penis is the one that is giving you license not to have the feeling of another person, it is better we cut it off.”

    Udeme then severed the penis before putting a piece of it in his right hand.

    Bamidele, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, testified as the Lagos State Government’s ninth witness in Udeme’s murder trial.

    His testimony followed Udeme’s June 13 arraignment on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse, by Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Titilayo Shitta-Bey.

    The government accused the defendant of stabbing Symphorosa, also a lawyer, to death and mutilating his corpse by cutting off his genitals, on May 3 at their Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos home.

    Shitta-Bey said the offences contravened sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Udeme pleaded “not guilty”, following which she was remanded in prison custody.

    At the resumption of trial on Wednesday, Shitta-Bey called Bamidele, a 30-year police veteran, as the state’s final witness.

    Bamidele told the court that he was the head of a team that investigated the killing and that he personally recorded the defendant’s statement.

    He said the second time he met Udeme, she had been moved from Safeway Hospital in Lekki to protective police custody at a police hospital at Ikeja.

    It was there, he said, during an interactive session, that Udeme wrote a detailed confessional statement.

    She said the defendant was recuperating from what one of the doctors that attended to her described as “superficial and self-inflicted wounds,” but that she spoke freely after identifying herself as a lawyer.

    Bamidele said: “While she (Udeme) was writing her statement, it was an interactive session. I put questions to her, she would explain it to me and put it down in writing.

    “She stated in her statement that she was married to the late Symphorosa and that they were having marital issues.

    “She stated that the deceased was having extra-marital affairs and whenever she raised the issue with him, his responses were not satisfactory; he appeared nonchalant.

    “She said also in the statement that on the second of May 2018, she was preparing to travel to the United Kingdom. She checked the bedside locker for her marriage certificate.

    “When she could not find it, she went to the deceased where he lay on the bed and asked him about it but there was no response, the response given was not okay.

    “She had a discussion with him and there was hot exchange of words, which made her to go to the kitchen and get a frying pan and knife.

    “When she returned to where the deceased lay, she hit him on the head with the frying pan and said ‘Tell me, what is in your mind that you are withholding.’

    “She stated that the deceased called his mother to report her conduct.

    “She continued to hit the deceased on the head again and again. Finally, she confirmed that she used the knife to stab the deceased in his abdomen.

    “She also said while the deceased was lying on his back, she was still angry. She sat beside him, looking at his intestines coming out of the deceased and said: ‘If this your penis is the one that is giving you license not to have the feeling of another person, it’s better we cut it off,’ and she proceeded to do so with the same knife she used in stabbing him and hanged a piece of the penis in his right hand.’”

    Promoted by Shitta-Bey, Bamidele explained that later that night, Udeme sent her “close friend” Maureen Offor, a WhatsApp message which read: “I have done something terrible.”

    The witness said further investigation showed that she sent two other WhatsApp message, firstly to the husband of the deceased’s younger sister, Charles Akpoguma, which read: “Just pray for us. May God forgive.”

    The last one was to her mother in Calabar the same night. It read: “Sorry mum, we engaged in a fight.”

    Her mum tried and failed to call her back, Bamidele said.

    A few minutes later, Udeme called back and said: “Don’t disturb my life, let my phone free so I can receive calls from the ambulance.”

    Then she cut the call.

    Things took a more graphic turn when the prosecution played pictures of the defendant on a hospital bed after the incident and her bloodied deceased husband on his deathbed.

    Udeme looked straight in front of her from where she sat in the dock while the amplified pictures were displayed on a wall to her right.

    Shitta-Bey also tendered through Bamidele several exhibits recovered from the defendant.

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    They included a big, shiny frying pan allegedly used by the defendant on the deceased, a blood-covered kitchen knife Udeme allegedly used in killing Symphorosa, a bloodstained pen, four phones, two of which were bloodstained, Udeme’s Nigerian and British passports.

    But when Shitta-Bey sought to tender the two statements Udeme allegedly made to the police, her counsel, Mr Olusegun Banjoko, opposed her.

    Banjoko, after showing the statements to his client, prayed the court not to admit both, on the ground, among others, that they were made without her lawyer being present, as required by law.

    Justice Akintoye adjourned till February 25 to consider the admissibility of the statements in a trial within trial.

  • Doctor suspects wounds on lawyer accused of killing husband self-inflicted

    A medical doctor, who is  the seventh witness in the trial of a lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, charged with stabbing her husband (Symphorosa) to death, says  he suspects that wounds found on the accused were self-inflicted.

    Udeme, was on June 13, arraigned by the police before an Igbosere High Court in Lagos State, on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse.

    She, however, pleaded not guilty, and was remanded at the Kirikiri Prisons.

    At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the witness, Dr Booyemi Oyeneyi, said that the 48-year-old accused was brought to his hospital at 7.30a.m on May 3, by some men who claimed to be her neighbours.

    Oyeneyi,  who works at Safeway Hospital, Sangotedo, Ajah, Lagos, was led in evidence by Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions.

    ”On examining the defendant, I saw that she had six stabbed wounds on her abdomen, one on her tigh and a cut on her right finger.

    “Her respiration was normal and the wounds were not deep but superficial.

    “A test was conducted to check her blood level and to see if there was any internal bleeding; also an abdominal scan was carried out and the results were okay. There was no injury to her internal organs.

    “She was stable; I was curious that she sustained such injuries without any injury to the internal organs.

    “My suspicion is that the wounds might have been self-inflicted,” the doctor said.

    Defence counsel, Mr Oluseye Bamijoko, however, cross-examined the witness to ascertain how he could determine when an injury was self-inflicted.

    The doctor, while answering questions from the counsel, admitted that he was not a forensic expert to determine a self-inflicted wound.

    The prosecutor called another witness, Dr Shokunle Soyemi, an anatomical pathologist, who said he conducted autopsy on the late Symphorosa Otike-Odibi.

    Soyemi said that during external examination of the body, there was a stabbed wound on the abdomen, an incised injury on the left finger, an injury on the groin area and a sutured injury on his manhood.

    He said that after external examination, the body was opened up and there was much blood in the abdominal cavity.

    “We saw destruction of the menstry vessel (organs that holds the intestines).

    “After all the examination, it was discovered that the man lost 3.5 litres of blood from the injuries; death was ascribed to destruction of the menstry vessel and massive loss of blood,” Soyemi said.

    He was cross-examined to ascertain if embalment of body could destroy evidence as to the cause of death.

    The pathologist had told the court that the body was embalmed before autopsy was carried out.

    He said that embalment could not destroy evidence as to the cause of death.

    The prosecutor called another witness, SP Joy Akpan, who narrated how she got to the alleged crime scene.

    Akpan narrated what she saw and the exhibits recovered at the crime scene.

    Justice Adedayo Akintoye adjourned the case until Jan. 23, 2019.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution had during arraignment told the court that Udeme committed the offences on May 3, on Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos State.

    It said that Udeme stabbed her husband and mutilated his corpse by cutting his genitals.

    The alleged offences contravene Sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Section 165 (b) provides for five years’ imprisonment  for misconduct with regard to a corpse, while Section 223 stipulates death sentence for murder. (NAN)

  • Lawyer who ‘cut off husband’s genitals’ suspected him of cheating

    An Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Wednesday heard that a lawyer, Mrs Udeme Otike-Odibi, who allegedly stabbed her husband, Symphorosa Otike-Odibi, to death and cut off his penis, believed he was cheating on her.

    A witness, Chijioke Akukuma, told Justice Adedayo Akintoye that Otike-Odibi complained to him that Symphorosa kept pornographic material on his phone and that he was having affairs.

    Akukuma, the husband of Symphorosa’s sister, testified as the sixth prosecution witness for the Lagos State Government.

    His testimony followed the June 13 arraignment of Otike-Odibi, 48, on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse.

    The government accused the defendant of stabbing Symphorosa, also a lawyer, to death and mutilating his corpse by cutting off his genitals, on May 3, at their Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos home.

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    At the resumption of proceedings on Wednesday, Akukuma, an engineer, was led as examination-in-chief by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Titilayo Shitta-Bey.

    He testified that the defendant visited him at home a week earlier to complain about the pornographic pictures that her husband’s friends were allegedly sending him on WhatsApp and that he was seeing other women.

    He testified that she also lamented about Symphorosa’s refusal to back her decision to start a business.

    The witness said when he spoke to the deceased, he said he tried to make the marriage work, but that he was no longer interested in the marriage. Akukuma stated that the deceased said one thing that “made him mad” was that his wife sent a message to one of his friend’s wives about his alleged affairs, and that “was extremely bad.”

    The witness said he counselled the couple to go on a vacation to the United Kingdom.

    A night before Symphorosa’s murder, at about 11pm, the witness said he chatted with the defendant on Whatsapp about the troubled marriage.

    “She did not respond to my WhatsApp messages until 12:09 a.m, when she replied ‘May God forgive you.’ I sent a message back that ‘Should I call you?’ Her response was ‘No, just pray for us.’ So I went back to sleep because I had a flight to catch early in the morning.”

    He said the next day, he aborted his trip when he got a call from his wife, Dr Awunli Akukuma, that her brother was dead.

    He said: “On May 3, 2018, I was at the Airport, when I was called by my wife that her elder brother Symphorosa had been killed by his wife”.

    Justice Akintoye adjourned further hearing till November 20.