A 30-year-old man, Fidelis Edozien, has been sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of his boss, Evelyn Chima.
The sentence was handed down on Thursday by an Asaba, Delta State High Court.
Though Edozien pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge, the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Marshal Umukoro, found him guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and murder, contrary to sections 516, 364 and 319 (1) Criminal Code Cap. 48 Vol. 11 Laws of defunct Bendel State as applicable in Delta State.
The prosecution witness told the court that on September 24, 2008, the accused with three others at large conspired and kidnapped the victim, popularly known as Madam Do Good, at Ogbade in Illah, where she had gone to excavate stones.
The prosecutor said Edozien took the police to the spot where the victim was buried.
The victim’s daughter also testified that she received a phone call the following day after her mother had been kidnapped by unknown persons.
She later received another call with her mother’s line where the kidnappers demanded for N1.5 million, which was later reduced to N600,000.
Further pleadings led to the ransom being reduced to N100,000, but the family paid N15,000.
Chima’s daughter further told the court that when the kidnappers finally allowed her to speak with her mother, it was not her voice, but another’s.
When she told the kidnappers that the voice was not her mother’s, they switched off the phone.
Justice Umukoro held that from available evidence before the court, the prosecution had proved without reasonable doubt all the ingredients of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and murder against the accused person, and thereby sentenced him to death by hanging.