Murder
By Teniola Ibitola
Lagos, May 9, 2018 (NAN) A Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday remanded a lawyer, Udeme Odibi, in prison for allegedly stabbing her husband to death.
The accused, 48, who was arraigned on a charge of murder, is to remain behind bars at Kirikiri Prison pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that her plea was not taken by the court.
CSP Effiong Asuquo, the Officer in Charge of Legal Department of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department Panti (SCIID), told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 3 at Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki.
Asuquo alleged that the accused had stabbed her husband, Otike, with a knife, spilling his intestines before proceeding to cut off his genitals.
He also said that the accused tried to commit suicide by inflicting injuries on herself before she was rescued and rushed to the hospital.
Asuquo prayed the court to remand the accused in prison for the next 30 days.
He said that the case file had been duplicated and a copy sent to the DPP for advice.
The offence contravened Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which attracts death sentence.
Counsel to the accused, Oluseye Bamijoko, however, asked the court to remand the accused at the Ikoyi Prisons instead of Kirikiri prisons to allow neurologists and endocrinologists attend to her thyroid disease.
Bamijoko told the court that the accused was undergoing psychiatric and private evaluation.
He pleaded that the accused should be remanded in Ikoyi Prison since the specialists attending to her are in Ikoyi/Victoria Island axis.
But the Chief Magistrate, Mrs Kikelomo Ayeye, rejected the request of the defence counsel and remanded the woman in Kirikiri Prison.
She ruled that since Ikoyi Prison lacked the facilities for female inmates, the accused should be remanded in Kirikiri Prison.
“Being at Kirikiri does not stop the specialists and endocrinologists from visiting and it’s sad that the Ikoyi Prison lacks facilities for the female gender,’’ Ayeye said.
She, however, ordered that the accused be given privacy when interacting with her counsel or family members without the interruption of a third party (the presence of prison warders).
She adjourned the case until June 25 for mention. (NAN)
OAT/DEB/OJO/DA
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(Edited by Debo Oshundun/Mufutau Ojo/Dele Akinsola)