Romanus Okoye
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, has sentenced a 30-year-old, Allen Abiodun, to death for stabbing his younger brother to death.
Abiodun had denied having blood relationship with his mother and the deceased, claiming strangely that his mother was a Chinese.
The court presided over by Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, said the prosecution proved the ingredients of murder beyond reasonable doubt as required by law, explaining that sounding uncoordinated by the convict as an insane person, could be an attempt to escape justice because there was no evidence to support such.
Justice Adebiyi while pronouncing the sentence, said that the convict who was 27-years old at the time of committing the murder, had in his confessional statement stated that he was awakened from sleep and saw his younger brother, Wale Allen, standing before him with a bottle and he quickly grabbed another bottle and stabbed him. He died instantly and he dragged the body to a nearby bush and covered it with leaves so that nobody would find it.
She also said that the convict in his confessional statement, which he later attempted to deny, alleged that the deceased had threatened to kill him two years ago but he told the deceased that he (the deceased) would die before him.
Meanwhile, one of the witnesses, Sunday Abogunrin, a building contractor, living close to the defendant’s residence had told the court that on February20, 2013, at about 1 or 2am, he heard dogs barking.
“Initially, people around were afraid to come out to clarify what was irritating the dogs for fear of robbers but later on, they all came out, including me,” he said.
“The defendant’s neighbours were usually afraid of going near the defendant’s house because the defendant was notorious for disturbing people in the neighbourhood.
“I went out to investigate the cause of the noise and noticed someone dragging something into the nearby bush. I initially wanted to raise an alarm but instead, I put my torch on and the person ran off towards the defendant’s house. I followed him and met the defendant washing his hands.”
The judge stated that Section 316 of the Criminal Justice Administration Act provides that a person is guilty of murder if he/she unlawfully kills another person under any of the following circumstances: one, if the offender intends to cause the death of the person killed or that of some other person.
Two, if the offender intends to do to the person killed or to some other person some grievous harm; and three, if death is caused by means of an act done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose, which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life, stating that all the elements were fulfilled in this case.