Rev King must die of hanging says Appeal court

www.ozorlastborn.blogspot.com/Rev King Must
Die by Hanging, Says Appeal
Court General Overseer of the
Christian Praying Assembly,
Chukwuemeka Ezeugo a.k.a.
Rev King must die by
hanging, the Court of
Appeal in Lagos held yesterday. It upheld the judgment of a
Lagos State High Court, Ikeja,
which earlier convicted and
sentenced him to death by
hanging. Ezeugo was handed the
maximum sentence on January 11, 2007, for the alleged murder
of a church member, Ann Uzoh. In
a unanimous verdict yesterday,
Justice Fatima Akinbami, who
read the lead judgment,
dismissed Ezeugo’s appeal.“The evidence is overwhelming and
damning. He was offering them
stone when they demanded for
bread. He was giving them
scorpion when they demanded
for fish,” the justice said. Ezeugo was arraigned on
September 26, 2006 on a six-
count charge of attempted
murder and murder. The
prosecution said he poured
petrol on the deceased and five other persons. Uzoh died on
August 2, 2006, 11 days after
the incident. Ezeugo was accused
of spraying six members of his
congregation with petrol and
setting them ablaze, which allegedly led to the death of Ms
Uzor. He was said to have
become suspicious of Uzor,
alleged to be one of his sex
slaves, and had accused her of
being unfaithful, setting her on fire as punishment. The prosecution said he also
flogged erring members of his
congregation and caused them
to pay an average of N25,000
when they made noise in the
church or disturbed religious proceedings. The appellate court
held that the prosecution, Lagos
State Government, effectively
proved its case against Ezeugo. “This appeal fails and is hereby
resolved against the appellant.
This appeal is devoid of merit
and it is hereby dismissed. “The
conviction and sentence passed
on the appellant on January 7, 2011 by Justice Joseph Oyewole
of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja
Division is hereby affirmed,” the
justice said. The court disagreed
with Ezeugo’s lawyer, Olalekan
Ojo’s submissions that there were contradictions in the
testimonies of some of the
prosecution witnesses. He had
claimed that some testified that
the cleric ordered for matches
to set the victims ablaze while others claimed he only ordered
for matches after a lighter
failed. Akinbami said the
contradictions were irrelevant.
Her words: “Not all
contradictions in the case of the prosecution will raise a doubt. “For contradictions to be fatal
to the prosecution’s case, it
must be related to the material
fact. “All the witnesses are
unanimous that the appellant
used matches.” According to the justice, eyewitnesses and the
evidence of a pathologist proved
that the cleric caused Uzor’s
death.