A Lagos High Court has sentenced a 32-year-old domestic staff, Joseph Ogbu, to death by hanging for his involvement in the death of his boss and her 38-year-old daughter 24 hours after he was employed as a domestic staff.
The court found Ogbu, who hails from Oju LGA of Benue State, guilty of murder and armed robbery and sentenced him to death by hanging after the defence counsel, Moses Enema, failed in his allocutus, praying the court to have mercy on the convict.
Earlier, the state counsel, Olarewaju Daud, told the court that the defendant killed his victims at around 9:30pm on June 19, 2019, at No 4 Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos, and that after killing them, he stole their car, phones and Plasma TV while armed with a knife.
The offence, the prosecutor said, contravened Sections 222 and 297 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State (2015).
The Judge, Justice Modupe Nicole-Clay, held that the prosecution had sufficiently proven the three-count charge bordering on armed robbery and murder against the defendant.
Justice Modupe also held that the defendant confessed to the crime as he admitted to be living with the deceased and was the only witness of the incident.
Justice Modupe held that, “He killed Adejoke by strangling her and Oreoluwa by stabbing her to death. As the defence did not raise an objection to the admissibility of the confessional statement, there is no doubt that the defendant confessed to the crimes.
“I have considered the evidence of the security guard, an Okada man, one Yahya Ibrahim, the house help and a police inspector. The defendant could not explain what he was doing with all the stolen items he was found with at about 2am on the date he was arrested. The court is satisfied with the total evidence to establish the guilt of the defendant.
“This court has found Joseph Ogbu guilty of these heinous crimes, and you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging. May God have mercy on your soul.”
