A Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Friday affirmed the death sentence passed on the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (a.k.a. Rev. King), by Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on January 11, 2007.
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.
The appellate court, in a unanimous judgment read by Justice Fatima Akinbami, dismissed Ezeugo’s appeal on the ground that the prosecution had “surely and effectively” proved its case against Rev King at the trial court.
Rev King, through his counsel, Olalekan Ojo, had appealed the judgment of Justice Oyewole, who convicted and sentenced him to death by hanging for the alleged murder of a church member, Ann Uzoh, and attempted murder of five other members of the church.
The appeal panel dismissed the appellant’s contention that there were “contradictions and inconsistencies” in the prosecution’s evidence.
“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.”
Ezeugo was arraigned on September 26, 2006 on six counts of attempted murder and murder on allegations of pouring petrol on the deceased and on five other persons and thereafter setting them ablaze.
One of the victims, Uzoh, died on August 2, 2006, 11 days after the incident, as a result of the injuries she sustained.
Ojo had, among his 32 grounds of appeal, argued that the judgement of the trial court occasioned miscarriage of justice for relying on unresolved contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence.
He argued that there were contradictions in the testimonies of some of the prosecution witnesses, with some saying that the cleric ordered for matches to set the victims ablaze and others saying he only ordered for matches after a lighter failed.
But Justice Akinbami, while delivering the ruling, held that the contradictions were immaterial to the case of the prosecution.
“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,” she said.
On Ojo’s contention that the evidence adduced by the prosecution did not show that the action of his client was linked to the death of the deceased, Justice Akinbami said the evidence given by eyewitnesses, and that of a pathologist ascribing the cause of death to “hypovolemic” (severe loss of blood and tissues), showed that Ezeugo’s action was the cause of death of one of the victims.
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.
Some of the witnesses said that Rev. King ordered one of them to bring matches and ordered another to pour petrol on the victim before he set her on fire.
Another witness stated that Rev. King looked for the matches himself before setting fire on the victim.
“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,” she ruled.
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You must be the change you want to see in the world- Mahatma Gandhi
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