Emmanuel Ukudolo
The body was naked; the two hands tied to the back with brown tape and supported with padlock; the two legs were also taped together. The mouth was stuffed with head net and handkerchief, also tied with brown tape round the head to secure the materials in the mouth
Lagos, Nigeria, June 8, 2016 – A Judge sitting in Lagos has frowned at delay tactics employed by the defence team of suspected murderers of Facebook girl, Cynthia Osokogu.
Osokogu was lured to a Lagos hotel by lovers she met on Facebook who allegedly murdered her in mysterious circumstances in July 22, 2012.
At a previous sitting, Chief Pathologist of Lagos State, John Oladapo Obafunwa, had testified that the postmortem he carried out alongside five other colleagues on September 6, 2012 showed that the deceased died from blockage of air into the upper part of the airways. He had told the court that he first saw the corpse on July 23, 2012.
“The body was naked; the two hands tied to the back with brown tape and supported with padlock; the two legs were also taped together. The mouth was stuffed with head net and handkerchief, also tied with brown tape round the head to secure the materials in the mouth.”
Obafunwa also said there were pin-point holes in the white eye of the corpse as well as inside the upper part of the air ways and surface of her lungs, a condition he termed ‘petechial hemorrhage’.
According to him, the deceased had suffered pulmonary Oedema, an overweight of the lungs from being soaked by blood.
“The left and right lungs weighed 400 and 500 grams respectively… due to blood accumulation”, he said, noting that the normal weight would be 250 to 350 grams”, he said adding that the deceased had multiple bruises and abrasions suspected to be from biting.
Since July 2012, the matter had tarried in court with the defence team allegedly employing delay tactics to frustrate justice for the deceased family. Justice Olabisi Akinlade who presided over the matte at an Ikeja High Court today, pointed out that it is the defence counsel that are delaying the case from going on, adding that people are interested in knowing the outcome of the case.
“People always think that it is the court that is delaying the matter not knowing that it is the defendants’ counsel. At the last adjourned date I gave you 14 days to file your written addresses and gave the prosecution three weeks to respond to all the addresses. The first and second defendants, who have been in prison since 2012, are still presumed innocent until proven guilty, ” he said.
Justice Akinlade who was infuriated by the development told the defence team that he was going to give a specific order as to when they are to file their written addresses, stressing that the defence counsel cannot continue to waste the time of the court.
Osokogu was allegedly murdered on July 22, 2012 at Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate, Festac Town, Lagos, by her Facebook lovers Nwabufo and Ezike. The defendants are facing a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, stealing, reckless negligence and possession of stolen goods. The prosecution said the 25-year-old Osokogu, who was resident in Abuja, was lured to Lagos where she was killed.
The offences committed are punishable under sections 221, 249, 285 and 327 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. At the resumed hearing of the case today, counsel to the second defendant Emeka Eze, told the court that he took ill and so he could not complete and file the written address before the court.
He said that he had ulcer and that the illness developed suddenly adding that he couldn’t continue with the writing, serving and filing of the written address.
The men accused of murdering Cynthia are Okwumo Nwabufo, 33; Olisaeloka Ezike, 23; Orji Osita, 33; and Ezike Nonso, 25. The case has been adjourned till October 27 for adoption of final written address.
