Justice C. C. Ani of an Enugu State High Court, yesterday, found Okolie Chigozie Michael, 32, guilty of killing his 19-month-old son. Consequently, the judge sentenced him to death by hanging for willfully snuffing life out of the boy in a painful manner.
Michael was arrested four years ago, having committed the offence when he was 28 years old, in the Emene area of the state. Michael was said to have taken the boy, Igwilo Chimereucheya, to the bush and strangled him.
However, when the child didn’t die, the convict hit him on the chest, causing the child to pass hot faeces and urine before giving up the ghost.
Done with the act, Michael was said to have used his fingers to scratch and inflict bodily wounds on the boy, to make it appear as if the child had been involved in a fight.
Afterwards, the convict took him home, cleaned him up and laid him on the bed, as though the child had been asleep, and attempted to escape. When the child’s mother discovered that her baby was dead, she raised an alarm, which attracted neighbours to the scene, and Michael was arrested.
It was gathered that the convict was a serial abuser, who constantly beat up the mother of the child. During the trial, the prosecuting counsel, Nkechi Ogbodo of the Department of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice, Enugu State, tendered evidence before the court, including an autopsy report to prove that indeed the deceased was strangled.
The judge upheld the submission of the prosecuting counsel and the evidence presented. He pronounced Michael guilty after the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the crime on April 14, 2020.
The judge, therefore, convicted Michael and sentenced him accordingly.
