TheCable

An Igbosere high court in Lagos has sentenced Okwumo Nwabufo and Olisaeloka Ezike to die by hanging for killing Cynthia Osokogu, then a postgraduate student of Nasarawa State University.

Osokogu was killed in 2012 after being lured to Cosmilla Hotel in  Lakeview estate in FESTAC town, Lagos.

In a judgment on Thursday, Olabisi Akinlade, a justice, held that evidence presented before the court, testimonies of prosecution witnesses, and confessional statements Osokogu made to the police, left no doubt that Nwabufo and Ezike killed Osokogu.

The accused were arraigned on a six-count charge of conspiracy, murder, stealing, recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods, alongside Orji Osita and Ezike Nonso.

During the proceedings, 10 witnesses gave evidence.

Akinlade found Nwabufo and Olisaeloka guilty of four counts of stealing, murder, conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to murder preferred against them.

Before passing judgment, the judge asked the accused if they had anything to say.

Victor Okpara and Emeka Eze, counsel for the first and second accused, made pleas for mercy.

Okpara said the first accused was a first time offender and had “tremendous energy to do something worthwhile with his life. I urge this court to grant him a reformative sentence.”

But in her response, Akinlade said section 221 of the criminal law of Lagos state says clearly that a person who commits murder, shall, be sentenced to death.

She sentenced the duo to 14 years imprisonment for the first count, three years imprisonment each for the third and fourth counts.

Akinlade, thereafter, sentenced the duo to death for the second count of murder.

“I pronounce the sentence of this court upon you Nwabufo and Olisaeloka, that both of you be hanged by the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on you,” Akinlade said.

“In judgment, justice is required not only for the victim, but also for the society. In their attempt to steal Cynthia’s property, they stole her life.

“They were not even remorseful. But for the efforts of the police and the ministry of justice, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything. This court cannot change the law.”

The accused

The judge said that the prosecution proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt by providing all the evidence needed to prove the ingredients of murder and stealing.

She said that the testimony of the ten witnesses was corroboratory.

“The first prosecution witness (PW1) evidence, who was the hotel receptionist corroborated the PW3, the hotel manager’s testimony,” she said.

Akinlade said PW1 told the court that the two accused were seen in the hotel and they lodged in the particular room where the body of Cynthia was found.

The judge, after reviewing all evidence, discharged and acquitted Orji Osita and Nonso Ezike.

Osita, the pharmacist was charged with the offence of selling a drug called Rohypnol which was used in drugging the deceased, Cynthia, without a doctor’s prescription.

The court could not find him guilty because there was no evidence to corroborate the second accused testimony that it was the pharmacist that sold the drug to him.

The court discharged the fourth accused, Nonso, saying that the prosecution could not prove the case of receipt of stolen phones of the deceased..

The website drugfreeworld.org, explains the power of the drug used by the convicts on Osokogu.

It says that Rohypnol is a tranquilizer about ten times more potent than Valium. The drug is available as a white or olive-green pill and is usually sold in the manufacturer’s bubble packaging. Users crush the pills and snort the powder, sprinkle it on marijuana and smoke it, dissolve it in a drink or inject it.

“Rohypnol has been used to commit sexual assaults because it renders the victim incapable of resisting, giving it the reputation of a “date-rape” drug.

“Rohypnol users often describe its effects as “paralysing.”

“The effects start twenty to thirty minutes after taking the drug, peak within two hours and may persist for eight or even twelve hours. A person can be so incapacitated (made unable to act) they collapse. They lie on the floor, eyes open, able to observe events but completely unable to move. Afterwards, memory is impaired and they cannot recall any of what happened.

“The person experiences loss of muscle control, confusion, drowsiness and amnesia.

“Rohypnol is sold in Europe and Latin America as a sleeping pill, but it is illegal in the United States”

The murder trial began on February 8, 2013, with the state calling the hotel’s receptionist as its first witness.