47-year-old woman to die by hanging for husband’s murder in Nasarawa

By SOLOMON AYADO, Lafia

A High court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has sentenced a 47-year-old woman, Mrs Ijeoma Okoli, to death by hanging for killing her husband.

Mrs Okoli, a mother of three children, all girls, is a resident of Shagari road in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state.

Okoli was accused of killing her husband, Innocent Okoli, in 2013 under controversial circumstances.

She has denied the allegations levelled against her, insisting she loved her husband and could not afford to take his life in any way.

Delivering judgement in Lafia, Wednesday, Chief judge of Nasarawa Justice Suleiman Umar Diko ruled that the accused was found guilty of killing her husband, based on proven evidence available to the court.

Diko said the gruesome act by Mrs Okoli amounted to culpable homicide and also contravened section 221 of the penal code of Northern Nigeria applicable to Nasarawa.

He added that Ijeoma was convicted and sentenced to die by hanging based on the evidence before him.

According to Diko, circumstantial evidence has revealed that the accuser is the killer, because she, was the last person who was seen with the deceased when the ugly incident happened.

But Mr Marcus Abbu of Justice Advocates Abuja, counsel to the defendant, kicked against the judgement and prayed the court to reverse it.

Abbu urged the court to temper justice with mercy on the death sentence, considering the fact that the accused have children to care for.

Instead of death by hanging, he prayed that the accused woman be sentenced and or commuted to life imprisonment.

Counsel to the petitioner Justina Alkali Ally, who represented the State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Abdulkarim Kana, commended the court for granting justice to the deceased.

At the moment, it is left to be seen whether or not the matter would be appealed and or the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. (Daily Sun)