One Onuwa Oliseh Ijie has been sentenced to death by a High Court in Asaba, Delta State, for ritually killing his twin boys, Chidalu and Chigozie Agwunobi, who are seven years old.
Justice Onome Marshal-Umukoro, who presided over the court, sentenced Onuwa’s accomplice, Nwanozie Uzor, to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.
The deceased twins’ relatives are both of the prisoners. Five witnesses were called by the prosecution, led by Mrs Paula Akpoguma, a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Justice, to support their claims.
According to a news release from the state Ministry of Justice’s public relations officer, Onoriode Etatsemi, on Tuesday, July 16, the court decided that the five witnesses’ testimony proved the case against the two defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecution claimed that on March 5, 2020, the defendants tricked the family of Olise Agwunobi of Oko-Ogbele Community into going to a bush, whereupon they severed the fingers, eyes, tongues, and hands of the twin boys, ages seven, and took them in a hurry to a native doctor in Aguleri, Anambra State.
“One of the defendants had earlier gone to the school of the twin children to take them but was turned down by the school teacher, one Mrs Emelda Ezekwude,” she said.
Justice Marshal-Umukoro delivered his ruling, noting that after carefully examining the evidence put forth, the prosecution had met its burden of proof because, according to the first defendant’s confessional statement, he was the one who planted the idea of performing human rituals in the mind of the second defendant by providing the phone number of a man named Chukwudi Edemuzor, who was allegedly looking for twins to kill for money.
The court upheld the recognised legal precedent that an investigating police officer’s testimony is admissible evidence and that the court should have confidence in it.
Prosecuting attorney Akpoguma commended the court for preserving the cause of justice and “reaffirming that the judicial system works” in remarks to media following the ruling on Tuesday.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli