A woman identified as Chiamaka Ifezue has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Enugu State High Court.
Ifezue was sentenced to death for the murder of a 27-year-old makeup artist, Ijeoma Nneke. The court presided over by Honourable Justice Kenneth Okpe, in a two-hour judgement on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, found the accused, Ifezue, guilty of killing the victim by forcing her to drink a poisonous substance.
Recall that Ijeoma went missing after leaving home for a job on November 11, 2020. Her mutilated corpse was later found around Maryland in Enugu metropolis on November 16.
Ifezue and her brother, Chukwuemeka, were arrested and arraigned before the court on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and murder in 2022.
They were accused of forcing Nneke to drink a poisonous substance that caused her death.
The suspects allegedly dumped her body in the Maryland axis of the Enugu metropolis and poured a corrosive substance suspected to be acid on it
During the trial, Justice Okpe discharged Chukwuemeka following a no-case submission pleaded by the defence counsel, Chuma Oguejiofor.
In discharging Chukwuemeka, the trial judge held that there was no evidence that he participated in the crime. However, delivering the final judgement on the case, Justice Okpe said the prosecution proved the case of murder against Ifezue beyond a reasonable doubt
The court agreed with the submissions of Chinelo Chigbo, who led the prosecution from the Department of Public Prosecution, that the suspect was responsible for the death of the 27-year-old makeup artist based in Enugu.
The court consequently found Ifezue guilty of murder and sentenced her to death by hanging. During the trial, the court admitted in evidence police exhibits on the case of the alleged murder of the makeup artist.
Chigbo led Prosecution Witness 7 (PW7), Sgt. Udeze Oguguo, a police officer, in evidence to tender the exhibits. Oguguo, who is attached to the Independence Layout Police Division in Enugu, said the exhibits were recovered from the scene of the crime.
The exhibits included five pieces of 20 British pounds, an iPhone 7 Plus with an MTN SIM card, another iPhone device and a Blackberry phone.
Others are a broken 9Mobile SIM card, an itel phone, another black phone (no brand name), an MTN SIM pack, and makeup tools belonging to the deceased
Also tendered in evidence was the key of a Toyota Metrix car with number plate JJJ410BJ which was allegedly used to move the dead body of the deceased from the scene of the crime to where it was dumped.
The police officer told the court that the car that had been parked at the Police Anti-Kidnap Formation was no longer in good condition to be moved to the court.
He also tendered hard copies of the WhatsApp messages and text messages the deceased had with her fiancé and a friend, respectively, while at the scene of the crime.
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