Tony Osauzo, Benin
A Benin High Court has sentenced to death a housewife and her pastor for the murder of a senior staff of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Benin City, Engineer Victor Gabriel Isonguyo.
The woman, Eniobong Isonguyo, was the wife of the deceased while the second convict, Pastor Udoka Ukachukwu, was the head of their church.
The court presided over by Hon. Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo, heard that the deceased was killed with a sharp object in his car by the said pastor and set ablaze in the car on agreement with his wife who was then pregnant for him.
The pastor, the court was told, had arranged with the woman and waited on her husband’s way to work and stopped him for a ride.
The plan paid off as the man eventually stopped and gave the pastor a ride along Sapele Road in Benin City.
During the journey, the said pastor then brought out a sharp object and punctured his neck; then he opened the car’s petrol tank from where he sipped out fuel and set the hapless man ablaze.
Police autopsy later revealed the cause of death.
The woman who was four months pregnant then, later gave birth in Benin prison.
During the trial, it was established how some millions of naira and landed properties belonging to the deceased were transferred to the said pastor.
Besides, it was also established that the murder of Engineer Isonguyo was carried out by the convicts in order to cover up the pregnancy accusation by the deceased. Isonguyo it was said was then asking questions about the woman’s pregnancy while he was away.
Justice Imadegbelo, while sentencing the two accused two persons said they were to die by hanging.