Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
An Ondo State Magistrates’ Court in Akure, the state capital, yesterday ordered Mrs Elizabeth Akinola, the woman who allegedly tortured her, daughter, Testimony, to death to be remanded in prison.
The 37-year-old woman was alleged to have killed her daughter and dropped her body at the premises of the Ondo State University Teaching Hospital, Akure.
She was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on murder and physical assault of her deceased daughter.
The defendant alongside her husband, Felix Babalola, who is currently on the run were alleged to have beaten to death their daughter, Testimony, at Iro Street, Akure in August 2019, in an attempt to deliver her from demonic spirits.
The crime, according to the police prosecutor, Sergeant Abdul-Lateef Sulaiman, is contrary to and punishable under section 357 of the criminal code cap 37 vol.1, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
Suleiman, who filed a seven-paragraph motion of notice, prayed the court to remand the accused person in prison custody.
But counsel to the defendant, Isreal Balogun, opposed the application made by the prosecutor, praying the court to give his team more time to file a counter-affidavit as he was served within short notice.
With the plea of the defense counsel not granted, the court presided over by Magistrate Victoria Bob-Manuel, consequently ordered the remand of Akinola in prison pending the outcome of advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The case was subsequently adjourned to October 9, 2019.