Fortune and Stephen Nwankwo, a couple accused of the murder of their housemaid, Joy Adole, on Monday told an Ikeja High Court in Lagos State that they had no case to answer.
The couple is facing charges of conspiracy, involuntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact to murder.
They were accused of killing 19-year-old Adole on April 20, 2020 at their residence at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga, Lagos.
The couple, however, denied the allegation, claiming that Adole committed suicide by hanging herself in her bedroom.
During Monday’s proceedings, Fortune and Stephen, who were to open defence, filed a no-case submission dated September 24 through their counsel, O. I. Barrah.
Responding, the prosecutor, Abike Oluwasanmi, said the prosecution needed time to respond to the no-case submission.
The case has been adjourned until November 3 for the hearing of the application.
NAN reports that during the last court proceedings on the case on July 30, a pathologist, Dr. Sunday Soyemi, who testified on behalf of the prosecution, said the cause of Adole’s death could not be ascertained because her corpse was embalmed.
Soyemi said: “The housemaid’s corpse had been embalmed at a morgue at Yaba, Lagos before it was brought by authorities to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for an autopsy.
“We did the autopsy and the saddest thing is that the body was embalmed and, in this case, the body should not have been embalmed.”
The Investigating Police Officer of the case, Inspector Ajibola Oderinde, told the court during the July 30 proceedings that authorities believed that Adole was killed because her body was found under suspicious circumstances.
The IPO said investigations revealed that Fortune assaulted Adole on April 19, 2020 and that her body was discovered by Stephen on April 20, 2020.
“The position of the body does not depict a suicide, and we recommended that Fortune and Stephen Nwankwo be charged to court,” the IPO said.
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