A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a man, Justice Odey, to death by hanging for the murder of 35-year-old Benedict Agara during a confrontation over a woman identified simply as Amina.
Justice Modupe Nicol Clay delivered the judgment in Suit No. LD/17040C/2021, holding that the prosecution proved the charge of murder beyond reasonable doubt in line with Section 222 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The court heard that the incident occurred on April 3, 2021, at Block 33, Flat 102, Jakande Housing Estate, Lagos, where Odey allegedly attacked Agara with a broken bottle, inflicting multiple injuries to his hand, stomach and other parts of his body. The victim later died from the injuries sustained.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Titilayo Olanrewaju Daud and Z. O. Abdulaziz, called the investigating police officer, ASP Mariam Ibrahim, as its sole witness and tendered six exhibits in support of its case.
In her judgment, Justice Nicol Clay held that the prosecution successfully established all the ingredients of the offence, stressing that the burden of proof in criminal proceedings rests on the prosecution throughout the trial.
The judge rejected the defence’s argument that the testimony of the investigating police officer amounted to hearsay, ruling that evidence obtained by an investigating officer during the course of an investigation is admissible before the court.
She also dismissed the contention that the absence of medical evidence weakened the prosecution’s case, explaining that although medical reports are desirable in murder trials, they are not indispensable where there is sufficient evidence showing how the victim died.
Justice Nicol Clay noted that while no eyewitness testified to seeing the convict stab the deceased, the circumstantial evidence presented before the court clearly linked him to the fatal attack.
According to the court, the evidence established that Odey was the only person involved in the fight that resulted in the injuries which led to Agara’s death, leaving no doubt as to who was responsible.
The judge, however, declined to rely on the defendant’s alleged confessional statement, holding that it was obtained in violation of legal requirements because it was neither video recorded nor made in the presence of a legal practitioner.
Having found that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, the court convicted Odey of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.
The case stemmed from an altercation between the convict and the deceased over a woman identified as Amina, which escalated into a violent confrontation that proved fatal.
