High Court sitting in Aba, Abia State, presided over by Justice Linda Abai, has sentenced Mr. Kalu Ukeje, a member of the defunct Bakassi Vigilante Group, to death by hanging. Ukeje, popularly called Aka Ogbungwangwa, meaning the hand that kills without wasting time, was sentenced to death after the evidence before the court proved that he murdered Mr. Sunny Nwadike, a Petro-Chemical undergraduate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, in 2009. The Nation learnt that Kingsley Ibegbulam and Uchenna Donatus on October 18, 2009 lured the late Nwadike to Okoro Road, near Ibadan Street junction, where Aka Ogbungwangwa, already waiting in his Mercedes Benz car, killed him with a machete. The accused and his accomplice were later arraigned on a one-count charge of murder, which was said to have contravened Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 30, Vol. 11, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963 (applicable in Abia State) for conspiring to kill the undergraduate. However, on January 30, Kingsley Ibegbulam and Uchenna Donatus were discharged after a no- case submission made on their behalf was upheld by the court. The Nation further gathered that during cross examination, one of the witnesses, who claimed to have witnessed the killing of the undergraduate, testified that Ukeje killed his victim with a machete, stressing that even when the victim brought out his school identity card and showed Aka Ogbungwngwa, the accused not only ignored the boy but also executed his plan. The witnesses further told the court that efforts to stop Ukeje from killing his victim proved abortive as they alleged that other members of the Bakassi Group shot into the air to scare away people, who wanted to prevent the accused from killing the boy. The witnesses also told the court that after Ukeje killed the undergraduate, he set him ablaze and remained at the spot until the body was reduced to ashes. In a judgment, which lasted for close to one hour, Justice Abai said: “I have considered the evidence before the court and the submissions of the counsel. The main issue for determination is whether the prosecution has proved its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. It is trite that in a murder case, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt the following ingredients: (a) That the deceased died; (b) That the death of the deceased resulted from the act of the accused; and (c) That the act of the accused was intentional with the knowledge that death or bodily harm was its probable consequence. “If it is found that a man died, the death of the deceased must be directly traceable to the act of the accused. From the evidence before the court, it is not in issue that Elvis Chinaka Sunday Nwadike is dead and that he died a brutal and painful death on October 18, 2009. From the autopsy report tendered as exhibit H1, the cause of the death was due to the multiple lacerations and blunt injuries with severe burns. Lacerations have been described as serious cuts to the skin or flesh. I am satisfied that from the autopsy report and photographs tendered as exhibit A-A2, which show the extent of the injury inflicted on the deceased, that the deceased died as a result of multiple lacerations, which were evidently caused by a sharp object, such as a machete and that he was set ablaze and burnt beyond recognition.”
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 06:55:57 +0000
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