The
Supreme Court on Friday upheld the judgment of a Lagos High Court sentencing a
man, Nonso Okeke, to death for murder of one Chinwe Ofomatu on October 28,
2004.
The
Appeal Court in Lagos had earlier affirmed the judgment of the lower court.
Mr
Okeke was convicted by the Lagos High Court on April 13, 2010 for the offence
of conspiracy to commit murder and murder of Ms Ofomatu at her residence in
House 18, A Close, Road 403, Festac Town.
He
was found guilty of the allegations, convicted and sentenced to death by the
Court.
Specifically,
Mr Okeke was convicted and sentenced to death by the trial court for conspiracy
and murder contrary to Sections 324 and 319(1) of the Criminal Code Act Cap 17,
Laws of Lagos State, 2003.
Dissatisfied,
Mr. Okeke approached the Court of Appeal in Lagos and asked that the judgment
of the lower court be upturned.
But
the appeal failed as the appellate court dismissed the application.
Again, Mr. Okeke took
his case before the Supreme Court in Abuja and asked that the judgments of the
lower courts be upturned.
While arguing the case
before the apex court, the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for
Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the
judgments of the lower courts.
Mr Kazeem, who was
represented by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Idowu Alakija
and Justin Jacobs argued that the appeal was devoid of merit, and ought to be
dismissed.
In its judgment, the
apex court upheld the arguments canvassed by the state government, and held
that the appeal of Mr Okeke lacked merit, a statement by Bola Akingbade, a
spokesperson for Lagos State Ministry of Justice, said.
The court, in the lead
judgment delivered by Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammed thereafter dismissed the
appeal and upheld the decision of the lower courts.
No comments:
Post a Comment