The
Court of Appeal in Lagos has affirmed the death sentence passed on the
General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo
(aka Rev. King), by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja on January 11, 2007.
In a unanimous judgment read by Justice
Fatima Akinbami on Friday, the appellate court dismissed Ezeugo’s
appeal, stating that the prosecution had “surely and effectively” proved
its case against the convict at the trial court.
Ezeugo had appealed the judgment of
Justice Joseph Oyewole, who had convicted and sentenced him to death by
hanging for the alleged murder of a church member, Ann Uzoh, and
attempted murder of five other devotees.
The convict is currently among the death row inmates at the Katsina Maximum Prisons in Katsina State.
Delivering judgment on the appeal, the
Justice Amina Augie-led three-man panel dismissed the appellant’s
contention that there were “contradictions and inconsistencies” in the
prosecution’s evidence.
Other members of the panel are Justice Fatima Akinbami and Justice Ibrahim Saulawa.
Akinbami, who read the lead judgment,
said, “This appeal fails and is hereby resolved against the appellant.
This appeal is devoid of merit and it is hereby dismissed.
“The conviction and sentence passed on
the appellant on January 7, 2011 by Justice Joseph Oyewole of the Lagos
High Court, Ikeja Division is hereby affirmed.”
The condemned cleric, arraigned on
September 26, 2006 on six counts of attempted murder and murder, was
said to have poured petrol on six devotees for an offence which he
classified as “acts of fornication,” and set them ablaze.
One of the victims, Uzoh, died on August
2, 2006, 11 days after the incident, as a result of the injuries she
sustained from the incident.
Counsel for the appellant, Mr. Olalekan
Ojo, had among his 32 grounds of appeal, argued that the judgment of the
trial court occasioned a miscarriage of justice for relying on
unresolved contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s
evidence.
According to the lawyer, there were
contradictions in the testimonies of some of the prosecution witnesses,
with some saying that the cleric ordered for matches to set the victims
ablaze and others saying he only ordered for matches after a lighter
failed.
Akinbami said the contradictions were immaterial to the case of the prosecution.
She said, “Not all contradictions in the
case of the prosecution will raise a doubt. For contradictions to be
fatal to the prosecution’s case, they must be related to the material
fact.
“All the witnesses are unanimous that the appellant used matches.”
On Ojo’s contention that the evidence
adduced by the prosecution did not show that the action of his client
was linked with the death of the deceased, Akinbami said the evidence
given by eyewitnesses, and that of a pathologist ascribing the cause of
death to “hypovolemic” (severe loss of blood and tissues), showed that
Ezeugo’s action was the cause of death of one of the victims.
“The evidence is overwhelming and damning,” she said.
The justice, who also descended on
Ezeuogo over his “dastardly and nefarious” act, ended the two-hour
judgment on a philosophical note, saying his action “reflects the moral
decay of the society in which we live.”
She said the condemned cleric presumed
to be a man of God, “instead of protecting and guiding his followers,
resorted to setting them ablaze and roasting them.”
Akinbami added, “He was offering them stone when they demanded bread. He was giving them scorpion when they demanded fish.”
But the defence counsel rejected the judgment. He promised to challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court.
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