A High Court in Markudi, the Benue State capital, Nigeria has sentenced a 38-year-old soldier, Moses Olorunfemi to death for the murder of one Mercy Agagbonna in 2009.
In her judgement, the presiding judge, Mrs. Theresa Igoche, sentenced the accused to death by hanging.
According to the court, Olorunfemi, who was attached to the 81 Intelligence Corps of the Nigeria Army, Lagos is guilty of murdering Agagbonna, who was his girl friend and a nurse with the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Makurdi.
The court ruled that the evidence tendered by the prosecution had clearly proved that Olorunfemi was guilty of the offence.
The judge said the evidence showed that he was the last person seen with her before she was found dead in her room located at Kwararafa Quarters on September 19, 2009.
She said the post mortem examination conducted on the deceased by Dr. Dzuachii Orgen of the FMC, Makurdi revealed that her neck was forcefully fractured.
The judge further said that the testimony of one Matthew Igyever, a co-tenant of the deceased proved that the convict slept in the deceased’s room and no one saw her again for three days after he had left.
Igyever had testified that it was on the third day that the police broke open the door to her room where she was found dead.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the convict had testified for himself without calling any witness, claiming that he was in Lagos on the day of the incident.
The judge ruled that the court was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that Olorunfemi committed the murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.