A 42-year-old man, Ifeanyi Nnamoko has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Special Offences Court, Lagos for killing his best friend, one Ifeanyi Anyanwu during a fight.
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo convicted Nnamoko, a scavenger, on one count of murder contrary to Section 319 (1), cap 17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State, 2003.
While delivering her judgement, Justice Taiwo said, “The prosecution has proved the case of death of a human being beyond reasonable doubt. I hereby find the defendant guilty of the murder of one Ifeanyi Anyanwu.
“However, I have carefully considered the allocutus of the Defence counsel; bearing in mind the defendant’s age and also the plea to reduce the offence of the defendant to manslaughter.
“I hereby sentence the defendant to life imprisonment,” the judge ruled.
According to the Prosecuting officer, Mrs K. O. Saromi, the convict committed the offence on March 4, 2011 at about 8.30 am at Oregun, Alausa, Ikeja.
Saromi said that the convict murdered Anyanwu, the deceased, by cutting off his head with a cutlass.
The prosecutor said that both the convict and the deceased were scavengers working on the refuse dump site, Ojota.
“a case of murder of one Ifeanyi Anyanwu was reported at Alausa Divisional Headquarters by one Agada Daniels, a LAWMA officer in charge of Oregun refuse dump site, Ojota.
“Agada said that he reported for work at the LAWMA office, and met people running at different directions and when he inquired on the reason for the chaos, he was told that one Nnamoko, who normally stays at the dump site, killed one Anyanwu when they were fighting and ran away.
“Agada said that before he got to the scene, the accused had already been apprehended by fellow scavengers.
“He added that he inspected the lifeless body the deceased person and immediately rushed to Alausa Police Station and alerted the police, where a patrol team accompanied him to arrest the suspect.
“He concluded that he also accompanied the police and the elder brother of the deceased to Isolo General Hospital, where the corpse was deposited for preservation and autopsy, ” the prosecutor said.
Also, a prosecution witness, a police officer attached with the commissioner of police, identified as Asp C. Gift, had earlier told the court that when the police got to the crime scene, they met the deceased lying on the ground with his head almost severed from his body.
The police officer said that while inspecting the deceased body, he discovered several matchet cuts on the back and head of the deceased person.
The officer also told the court that further investigation revealed that the suspect had been threatening the life of the deceased.
However, as stated in the court record containing the statement of Nnamoko, the convict said that he had a misunderstanding with the deceased which led to a fight.
The convict said that a colleague of theirs bought him a bottle of wine and the deceased began to insult him. He asserted that during the fight, the deceased hit him with a bottle on his head and also stabbed him. He reiterated by giving him a machete cut on his head and neck respectively.
He concluded that when the deceased died, he was arrested by boys who work at the dump site and handed over to the police at Alausa.
Meanwhile, in her allocutus, the dyefence Counsel, Mary Diaezue pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy on the grounds that the accused person is a first time offender and a father of four kids.
Diaezue said that the convict committed the offence out of provocation and urged the court to reduce his offence to manslaughter.
