Death Sentence: Rev. King Goes To Supreme Court

Dissatisfied with the death sentence passed on him by a Lagos High Court and confirmed by the Appeal Court in Lagos, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (alias Rev King) of the Christian Praying Assembly has taken his legal battle to stay alive to the Supreme Court.

His lawyer, Barriser Olalekan Ojo, has filed five grounds of notice of appeal while compilation of records of appeal is currently ongoing at the Court of Appeal in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

According to Ojo in the said ground of appeal at the apex court, the appellate court was wrong and erred in law in refusing the convict’s application to call additional witness to tender reports of forensic experts to show that petrol being highly inflammable in nature, there’s no way the man who ignited the matches that burnt the deceased to death will not have been affected by the light since the deceased was said to have been soaked in petrol.

He furthered argued that the appellate court said in its judgment that the report of the forensic experts was supposed to have been tended at the trial court.

On another ground filed by Ojo,  he said it was wrong not to have treated the statement of the deceased which was that Rev. King did not pour the petrol on her neither did he ignite the matches rather the burn she suffered was from the generator explosion.

He said the deceased made three statements before she died.

“In one of the statements marked exhibit C4, the deceased said Rev King was not responsible for her predicament. Therefore the Appeal Court hearing should have been in favour of Rev. King as a statement of dying declaration but the court ruled otherwise,” Ojo said.

When P.M.NEWS asked Ojo if he has filed stay of execution of the judgment of  the Court of Appeal, he said in a matter of capital punishment or death sentence, once a notice of appeal is filed it automatically acts as a stay of any execution.

“This law is also recognised by the administrative law of Lagos State 2011 because the governor will not sign anything unless it has been shown that no appeal is pending or the pending appeal has been dismissed.In view of this filing a notice of appeal automatically stays the execution of the sentence of death as this is the provision of the law,” he said.

Barrister Ojo further said they are currently compiling records of appeal and they are going to be diligent in prosecuting it.

On 1 February, 2013, a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, affirmed the judgement of a Lagos High Court delivered on 11 January, 2007 Rev. King should die by hanging for the murder of Ann Uzoh, one his church members.

The lead judgement read by Justice Fatima Akinbami and supported by two other judges, Ibrahim Salauwa and Amina Augie, resolved all the grounds of the appeal against Rev. King.

In the grounds of the appeal filed by the appellant, his counsel, contended that the deceased, before her death, said Rev King had nothing to do with her death.

Ojo, in his evaluation of evidence, argued that there were contradictions in the evidences given by the witnesses.

Moreso, the appellant, through the case, proved the alibi that he was not at the scene of the incident.

However, all the grounds of the appeal were resolved against Rev. King because the judge said the witnesses gave evidences of how the victim was killed, especially the evidences from the 10 prosecution witnesses.

The judge said the contradictions in the evidences of the witnesses are not substantial in fact and material.The most important thing was that the essential ingredient of murder is the intention to kill.  Justice Akinbanmi said: “the evidences against the appellant were overwhelming and damaging. Therefore, the judgement of the Lagos High Court delivered on 11 January, 2007 is upheld and affirmed.”

—Akin Kuponiyi