Anambra Court Sentences Man to Death for Murder of Family Friend’s Wife
The Anambra State High Court, Idemili Judicial Division, has sentenced Ikechukwu Okoye to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murdering his family friend’s wife, Blessing Mba, and stealing her property.
Delivering judgment, Justice A.O. Okuma dismissed Okoye’s plea of self-defence, holding that the killing preceded his intention to steal, thereby sustaining convictions for murder and theft but not armed robbery.
The court, however, held that the charge of armed robbery could not be sustained because the defendant had killed the deceased before forming the intention to steal her property.
Earlier, the prosecution, led by Victoria Ononye-Ekwerekwu, a chief state counsel, and including Florence Abadom-Igweike and Nkiru Nzekwu, both principal state counsel, told the court that Mr Okoye went to the residence of the victim, Blessing Mba, at Abime Village, Oba, on 22 February 2024, to steal a multi-purpose grinding machine.
The prosecution stated that an argument ensued between Mr Okoye and the deceased, during which Mr Okoye struck Mrs Mba on the head with a pestle, causing her death.
The prosecution said Mr Okoye dragged the deceased’s body into her children’s room, covered it with their clothes and took away her grinding machine and generator.
It said Mr Okoye then boarded a commercial motorcycle to Afor Oba Market with the stolen items.
According to the prosecution, the deceased’s husband, who had earlier taken their children to school, spotted Mr Okoye on the motorcycle with his wife’s grinding machine and generator.
It said the husband, upon returning home, discovered his wife’s lifeless body in the children’s room and alerted security operatives, who later arrested Okoye at Afor Oba Market with the stolen items.
Mr Okoye, in his defence, denied the offence, disowned his extra-judicial statement in which he admitted committing the offence and pleaded self-defence.
