{"id":2293,"date":"2026-07-26T00:49:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2026-07-26T00:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:49:40","slug":"court-sentences-man-to-death-or-murder-of-step-sisters-husband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2293","title":{"rendered":"Court Sentences Man To Death Or Murder Of Step-Sister’s Husband"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Christabel Onajero<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Asaba High Court sitting in the Abraka Judicial Division has sentenced Igah Obruche to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murdering Akpevwe Enamuotor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivering judgment on Thursday, May 14, 2026, Justice Samuel I. Okeleke held that the prosecution proved the charge of murder beyond reasonable doubt and convicted the defendant under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Law of Delta State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obruche was charged with murdering Enamuotor on January 5, 2022, in Abraka. He pleaded not guilty when he was first arraigned on November 2, 2023, and maintained the plea after the information was amended to correct the date of the offence and the spelling of the deceased’s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits, including a blood-stained kitchen knife allegedly recovered from the defendant’s house, confessional statements, medical reports, and photographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deceased’s wife, Blessing Enamotor, testified that although she did not witness the stabbing, she met her husband at the hospital where he repeatedly identified Obruche as the person who stabbed him and pleaded that he should not be allowed to escape. She told the court that her husband later died while receiving treatment after being transferred between hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Investigating Police Officer, ASP Yusuf Hamidu, also testified that the deceased made a dying declaration at the hospital identifying the defendant as his attacker. He added that the defendant later admitted in a statement to stabbing the deceased with a kitchen knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another police witness, W\/Inspector Linda Peters, who handled the case after it was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Asaba, told the court that investigations revealed the defendant and the deceased had longstanding disputes as neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his defence, Obruche denied killing the deceased and alleged that police officers forced him to sign confessional statements after subjecting him to physical assault. He also denied knowing the deceased’s wife despite evidence presented that she was his step-sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defence counsel, Tayo Ibrahim, argued that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, maintaining there was no eyewitness to the killing and that the alleged confessional statements were obtained under duress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, prosecuting counsel, Ejiro Adu, submitted that the prosecution had established the offence through the deceased’s dying declaration, the recovery of the alleged murder weapon, and the defendant’s confessional statements, urging the court to convict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his judgment, Justice Okeleke held that the prosecution successfully proved all the essential ingredients of murder. The court relied on the deceased’s dying declaration, the recovery of the blood-stained knife, and the defendant’s confessional statements, which the judge found to have been made voluntarily despite their later retraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court also dismissed the defence’s argument that the amendment to the date of the offence weakened the prosecution’s case, describing it as a minor correction that did not affect the substance of the charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Okeleke further held that the defendant’s denial of knowing his step-sister undermined his credibility, describing his testimony as “a tissue of lies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The prosecution has established the actus reus<\/em> and the mens rea<\/em> for the heinous crime of murder,” the judge ruled before finding the defendant guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sentencing, Justice Okeleke imposed the mandatory punishment prescribed under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Law of Delta State, ordering that Igah Obruche “be hanged by the neck until you be dead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel for the State was Ejiro Adu, Esq., while Tayo Ibrahim, Esq., represented the defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christabel Onajero An Asaba High Court sitting in the Abraka Judicial Division has sentenced Igah Obruche to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murdering Akpevwe Enamuotor. Delivering judgment on Thursday, May 14, 2026, Justice Samuel I. Okeleke held that the prosecution proved the charge of murder beyond reasonable doubt and convicted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[31,257,217],"class_list":["post-2293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abrakametro","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-court-proceedings","tag-judiciary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2296,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions\/2296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}