Friday, 26 February 2016

Reverend King to know fate of death sentence today

 According to Naij.com:


The infamous religious cleric, Rev. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Reverend King who was sentenced to death by hanging will know his fate today, February 26. King will face the Supreme Court today to know if the apex court will uphold his death conviction or reverse it. 
The general overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly in Lagos was sentenced to death by a Lagos high court after he was arraigned on September 26, 2006 on a six-count charge of attempted murder and murder. He pleaded not guilty to the allegation but on January 11, 2007 , he was sentenced to death by the then Justice Joseph Oyewole of Lagos state high court in Ikeja, for the murder of one of his church members, Ann Uzoh. 

The controversial cleric had reportedly poured petrol on Uzoh and five other persons and set them on fire leading to the death of Uzoh and serious injuries to the others. King was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the murder charge and 20 years imprisonment for the attempted murder charges. He however ran to the appeal court in Lagos to get his conviction overturned but the case was thrown out. “I hereby rule that the prosecution effectively discharged the burden of proof on it. This appeal is devoid of any basis and accordingly fails. 
“The judgment of the High Court is hereby affirmed, and the conviction imposed on the appellant, (which is death by hanging) is also affirmed,” Justice Fatimo Akinbami who read the judgment held. Justices Amina Augie and Ibrahim Saulawa who were other members of the panel concurred with the lead judgment. As a last resort, King approached the Supreme Court to get the conviction upturned Mr. Adeniji Kazeem who is the Lagos state attorney general and commissioner for justice who appeared before the Supreme Court alongside Mrs. Idowu Alakija, the director of public prosecution and other senior counsel in the state, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the lower court and hang King. The apex court fixed today to finally decide whether he will be allowed to live or face the hangman’s noose. 

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