Nurse, 2 Others Arraigned For Strangulating Benefactor To Death

Three persons appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Monday charged with the murder of one Helen Peters, 40.

The accused are: Henry Uwadiegwu, 25, a security guard; Monday Ochonu, 25, his accomplice and Taiwo Adebiyi, 57, a nurse.

The trio were alleged to have conspired to kill the deceased by bounding her hands and legs backward, gagging her mouth before injecting her to death.

The accused are standing trial before Magistrate K.O. Ariyo for alleged conspiracy and murder, among other charges.

The prosecutor, Cpl. Mariam Dauda, told the court that the accused and his friends had on Jan. 19, at about 3:00 p.m. conspired to murder the deceased, who was Uwadiegwu’s benefactor.

“Uwadiegwu had invited the deceased to his home at No. 36, Fashola St., Papa Ashafa in Agege, a suburb of Lagos, where he had bound her legs and hands backward, gagging her before strangulating her with the help of Ochonu , his friend,” she said.

The prosecutor said that the accused had also invited Adebiyi, a nurse, to help in injecting the deceased with 50 miligramme of Lagatine injection to paralyse her, which eventually led to her death.

She said that the accused committed offences that were contrary to Sections 221 and 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 221 stipulates a life imprisonment for the offender if found guilty.

Ariyo, however, said that the court would not take the plea of the accused as it lacked the jurisdiction to do so.

She ordered the police to continue investigation into the matter and directed that the case file should be duplicated and forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPPs) for legal advice.

According to Ariyo, the accused should be remanded at the Ikoyi Prisons pending when the DPPs would provide the court the legal advice.

She said that upon the receipt of legal advice from the directorate, the accused would be arraigned at the appropriate court.

The magistrate then adjourned the case to March 30. (NAN)