A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja sentenced Justice Odey to death by hanging for the brutal killing of 35-year-old Benedict Agara during a violent confrontation over a woman identified as Amina.
Delivering judgment in Suit No. LD/17040C/2021, Justice Modupe Nicol-Clay ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Odey was responsible for Agara’s death after a fierce altercation on April 3, 2021, at Block 33, Flat 102, Jakande Housing Estate, Lagos.
The court heard that the deadly clash escalated when Odey allegedly attacked Agara with a broken bottle, inflicting multiple injuries to his hand, stomach and other parts of his body. Agara was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
Despite the absence of an eyewitness to the fatal stabbing, Justice Nicol-Clay held that compelling circumstantial evidence pointed squarely at Odey as the only person who fought with and injured the deceased on the day of the incident.
In a significant aspect of the ruling, the judge dismissed claims that the investigating police officer’s testimony amounted to hearsay, declaring that an investigating officer’s account of a crime scene investigation is admissible evidence capable of grounding a conviction.
The court also ruled that although medical evidence is desirable in murder cases, it is not indispensable where the circumstances surrounding the victim’s death are clearly established by credible evidence.
However, the judge rejected the prosecution’s alleged confessional statement, declaring it legally worthless because it was not obtained in compliance with the law, having neither been video-recorded nor taken in the presence of a lawyer.
After weighing all the evidence, the court concluded that the prosecution had established every ingredient of the offence of murder beyond reasonable doubt. Justice Odey was consequently convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the killing that sprang from a love-fuelled confrontation that ended in bloodshed.