Two men jailed 15 years’ each for flogging minor to death

By Adenike Ayodele

An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Thursday sentenced a painter, Edidiong Edem, and a mechanic, Alex Effiong-Etim, to 15 years’ imprisonment each for flogging their brother’s 12-year-old housemaid to death.

Justice Abiola Soladoye sentenced Edem, 22, and Etim, 21, after they entered a plea bargain on an amended one-count charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The judge consequently convicted the duo and sentenced them to 15 years’ imprisonment each.

The court held that the convicts flogged the deceased with a broom, an act that eventually led to her death.

Soladoye also ruled that the sentence would take effect from the date of their remand in the correctional centre.

The convicts were initially arraigned before the court on Feb. 25, 2022, where they pleaded not guilty but later opted for a plea bargain dated Feb. 25, which led to the amended charge.

Earlier, the prosecution told the court that the convicts committed the offence in January 2022 at Military Estate, Eleko, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

The State Counsel, Ms Oluwaseun Adewoye, submitted that the convicts recklessly flogged the deceased on her legs with a broom, causing injuries that became infected with tetanus and eventually led to her death.

According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 224 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

(NAN)