A court in Ogbaru presided over by the Administrative Judge of the High Court of Ogbaru Judicial Division, Justice Charles Okaa, has sentenced to death by hanging a vigilante operative, after convicting him of the murder of a phone repairer, Anayo Ugbo from Ogboji Ezzagu in Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State.
The vigilante operative, one Onyeka Francis Eze, aged 26, hails from Enueiji in Ika North LGA of Delta State.
Leading the prosecution, an Assistant Chief State Counsel, Anambra State Ministry of Justice, Chinyere Aganama-Onyeze, told the court that the victim, Ugbo, while fixing a phone at Shoe Site Market, Okpoko, on the 5th day of May 2022, was summoned by the defendant, Eze (said to be a vigilante operative), to meet their “boss”.
It was gathered that when the deceased asked for time to finish the phone he was repairing, the defendant refused, and the deceased followed him to their office, a three-storey security outfit at the market, in the company of his customer, one Joshua Igwe.
As the vigilante boss was not in the office, the deceased pleaded with the defendant to allow him to go back and continue his work, which the defendant refused and instead told him to pay a sum of money over a fight that happened previously in the market, which the deceased refused because he was not part of the fight, and would not pay for the damaged chair and a woman’s pepper soup that was spilled.
Enraged, the defendant reportedly beat and pushed the deceased from the third floor of the three-story building, which made him sustain a severe head injury that led to his death two days later at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.
The prosecution called four key witnesses, including an eyewitness, who testified against the defendant, a medical doctor who performed the postmortem examination, a police Inspector, and the brother of the deceased, Sunday, whom the deceased told what happened to him in the presence of his customer and eyewitness, Joshua Igwe.
Despite his claims of innocence, the defendant testified only for himself and, during cross-examination, could not show that he was authorized vigilante personnel.
The court therefore found the prosecution’s case overwhelming, and held that the prosecution proved the case of murder against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
