The Anambra State High Court of Otuocha Judicial Division, holding at Onitsha has sentenced two brothers, Hyacinth Onwurah and Jerry Onwurah, to death by hanging or by firing squad for the murder of their cousin Mr Nnalue Onwurah.
Delivering judgement on a 4-count charge brought against the defendants, which bordered on conspiracy to commit murder, murder, attempted murder and arson, the court, presided over by Justice Tagbo Anieto, resolved issues for determination against the defendants and accordingly convicted them of commission of the offences.
The conviction included 7 years imprisonment on Count-1, life imprisonment on Count-3 and Count-4, and death on Count-2.
The defendants, including Sunday Onwurah, who died in the course of the trial, pleaded not guilty to the commission of the said offences.
The defendants, who allegedly shared a dark past fueled by a land dispute and superstition, argued that the first Prosecution Witness, who is a Chief in the community, instigated the Police against them.
The prosecution had presented a strong case, calling five witnesses, including the said community member and the deceased’s wife, and presenting medical evidence and postmortem reports.
The Prosecution Witness 1 had told the court that the first defendant, who was formerly a Police officer, used teargas to disperse members of the Odeh community in Anambra West LGA, who came to rescue Nnalue and his son.
He told the court that Nnalue was already dead and the son severely injured when the defendants intended to set them ablaze, and that Nnalue’s corpse was later thrown into the River Niger by the defendants, but was later found and brought out.
When she was called up, the widow of the deceased Nnalue corroborated the accounts of the prosecution witnesses, that the defendants came to their house with dangerous weapons around 8 pm on 12th February 2022, attacked and assaulted her husband, as well as attempted to kill their son.
In his judgement, Justice Anieto disproved the defendants’ claims of innocence and arguments about the statement on oath of the plaintiff’s witness.
