A Delta State High Court sitting in Akwukwu-Igbo, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State has sentenced one Obinna Eze to death by hanging for the murder of six-month-old baby, Chimaobi Igwe.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Marcel Okoh, Thursday, who declared that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Eze was arraigned on a three-count charge of attempted murder, murder, and causing grievous bodily harm, offenses punishable under Sections 320, 319, and 335 of the Criminal Code Laws of Delta State.
The case was prosecuted by the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Mr. Omamuzo Erebe, supported by J.A. Otite, Solomon Funkekeme Jnr., M.C. Okafor, and Mrs. Betty Adams. The prosecution presented three witnesses and tendered two exhibits to support its case.
The baby’s mother, Mrs. Blessing Igwe, who testified as the first prosecution witness, recounted the tragic events which occured on October 27, 2023, when a dispute with Eze, her co-tenant on Talitha Street, off Okpanam Road, Asaba, over a missing phone turned violent.
Read also: Oil Spill Disaster in Rivers State: NIMASA begins monitoring as SPDC pipeline ruptures
Eze attacked her and her baby with a cutlass, inflicting severe injuries. Both were rushed to the hospital, but the baby succumbed to his injuries a week later.
Dr. Emmanuel Egbuduka, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy, testified that the baby’s death was caused by three deep, penetrating head injuries inflicted by a sharp object, consistent with a cutlass.
Justice Okoh, in his judgment, stated that the mother’s eyewitness account, the pathologist’s findings, and the defendant’s confessional statement provided irrefutable evidence of Eze’s guilt. The court dismissed Eze’s denial and retraction of his confession as baseless and unconvincing.
Eze was thereby convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Chimaobi Igwe.
