Ebonyi: Court sentences four to death for murder

A High Court sitting in Ohaukwu, Ebonyi State, has sentenced four suspected cultists to death by hanging after being found guilty of conspiracy and murder of a 26-year-old man, Mr Chinonso Elom, on February 5, 2023.

The deceased, known as Oscar, and the four convicted murderers hail from the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.

The convicted persons include Anthony Elom a.k.a. Tidy, Chibueze Onwe a.k.a. Chief Ooo, Chukwuemeka Ugah a.k.a. Parity, and the younger cousin brother to the chairman of Ohaukwu LGA.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Esther Otah of the High Court, Ohaukwu Division, said that the evidence provided by the prosecuting counsel, including the eyewitness accounts, proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused were responsible for the killing of the said Chinonso Elom.

The judge stated that the defence of the defendants was not enough to exonerate them from the crime, adding that a forensic check on the gun later recovered from the killers also indicated that it was used last on the 5th of February, 2023.

Justice Otah said that the killers formed a common intention to prosecute the unlawful purpose and they are liable for the eventful outcome of the unlawful purpose they pursued and that one of them was first to shoot the victim was immaterial.

Reacting to the judgement, counsel to the defendants, Barr Chinedu Uwa, said he was not satisfied with the judgement and that he will appeal the judgement.

Also, the prosecuting counsel, Barr. Oluchi Ibiam of the Ebonyi State Ministry of Justice, and some lawyers from Ohaukwu Local Government Area, Barr. Chinedu Ugadu and Barr. Chinedu Ituma, who were in the court, expressed satisfaction with the judgement and maintained that the verdict by the judge was a true reflection of justice.

Reacting to the judgement, the President of the Amalgamated Ngboejeogu Youth, Barr. Michael Odo, applauded the judgement with mixed feelings, insisting that whereas the gruesome murder of the late Chinonso Elom was evidence of the level of decay in the system, the judgement should serve as a deterrent to youths who still indulge in cultism and other vices.

This judgement does not call for celebration. It is a sad reminder of a terrible decay in our society. Those who were sentenced to death today are made up of two persons from Ngbo and two persons from Ezzangbo who could have added value to the society but chose the wrong path of criminality and ended up as a reference point in infamy,” Odo stated.

Recalled that the trouble started when, in the evening hours of 5th February, 2023, the four convicted persons, including one ThankGod Onwe, who is now at large, drove a branded Sienna bus belonging to a known political party to Ndulo Umuogudu Akpu Road and stopped at the front of the late Chinonso’s business area, near Okwo Ngbo Main Market.

The five killers, who were believed to be members of a secret cult, demanded that their victim, Chinonso Elom, provide information on the whereabouts of his younger brother, whom they reportedly had a misunderstanding with.

“Chinonso’s inability to provide such information about his brother as demanded made them begin to drag him into the Sienna bus. Upon his refusal to enter the Sienna, one of the hoodlums, Anthony Elom, also known as Tidy, shot him on the head with a shotgun, and he died instantly.

The gruesome murder of the 26-year-old Oscar caused a pandemonium leading to a wide protest by Ngbo youths who demanded that the killers be arrested and justice served.

Four of the killers, who could be recognised by some eyewitnesses, were subsequently arrested by the police, while the fifth person, ThankGod Onwe, remained at large. They were later charged in court for the case of murder by the State.