Admin l Monday, April 15, 2019
IGBOSERE, Lagos, Nigeria – A Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere today sentenced a cook who killed her 8 years old brother for stealing meat from a pot of soup to 14 years imprisonment.
The cook, called Janet James beat her eight-year-old brother, Saviour Effiong James to death for stealing meat from a pot of soup, on August 10, 2009. Justice Adedayo Akintoye convicted James, 34, following her plea of guilty to an amended one-count charge of manslaughter.
The judge said the 14-year imprisonment will take effect from August 21, 2009 when James was remanded by a magistrates’ court. Justice Akintoye noted that the defendant entered a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution last Monday at the high court and that she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of manslaughter.
She said: “The sentence and plea bargain agreement states as follows:
Defendant has shown remorse for the offence of manslaughter committed on the 10th day of August 2009 against the person of one Saviour Effiong; the defedant pleads guilty to the offence as charged; the defedant has agreed to serve 14 years jail term from the date of remand by this honourable court; the defedant gives an undertaking to be of good behaviour, upon the completion of the jail term.
“In view of this therefore, the defedant, Janet James, is hereby found guilty of manslaughter contrary to Section 317 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003, and is accordingly convicted of same.
“I have taken into consideration that this is a 2013 case. I have also been guided by the plea and sentencing agreement entered into by the prosecution, the defedant Janet James and the defence counsel.
“I note also the fact that the defendant has been in remand custody for many years. As a result therefore, the defendant Janet James is hereby sentenced to a term of 14 years. The term of imprisonment is to run from the date of remand, which is August 21st 2009. This is the judgment of the court.”
James was re-arraigned before the judge in 2013 on a one-count charge of murder contrary to Section 317 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003 and pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecution counsel Mrs Abiola Gbadamosi had informed the court that the James committed the offence at about 8pm on August 10, 2009 in the Ilupeju area of Lagos State
In her confessional statement to the police, James said: “I carried him (the deceased) on my back and walked a long distance before throwing him across the fence. I decided to dump him there because the offices had long been closed.
“He used to steal. I even warned him when I went to the village to pick him. I beat him on Monday night at about 8pm, after several warnings not to steal meat from the pot failed. I hit him with this little pestle. But he did not die on the spot. At about 11pm, he woke up to urinate.
“But when I woke up at about 2am, I discovered he was foaming at the mouth. I called him but there was no response. I tried opening his mouth and even hit him, yet there was no movement. Then I waited until about 5am before carrying him on my back and dumped him inside the premises of insurance firm and returned home.”