NIGERIA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND ALONGSIDE FAMILY PASTOR IS RELEASED FROM PRISON

May 9, 2022:

A woman jailed for killing her husband has been released from prison in Benin city, Edo state, after a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court, Standard Gazette reported on 6 May 2022.
Mrs Enobong Isonguyo and her alleged pastor lover, Udoka Ukachukwu, were charged and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband, Engr. Victor Gabriel Isonguyo, a staff of Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC, Benin, Edo State in 2013.
During the trial, the prosecuting counsel told the court that the murder of the deceased was carried out by the convicts so as to cover up the pregnancy accusation by the deceased while he was away.
“The deceased’s wife told the pastor to wait on the route of her husband to work and ask him for a ride. The plan paid off as the man eventually stopped and gave the pastor a ride along sapele road Benin. During the journey, the said pastor brought out a sharp object and hit him on his neck before opening the petrol tank, sipped out fuel and burnt him beyond recognition,” the court heard.
However, Enobong’s defence counsel, Olayiwola Afolabi, proceeded to the Supreme court, where the earlier judgements were overturned.
In a landmark judgement delivered by Mary Odili, the Supreme Court resolved that the ruling from the lower court was based on speculation and imagination, which are not part of the criminal code.
The Supreme Court described the death sentence as a miscarriage of justice and ordered the woman to be released unconditionally.
Ukachukwu, who was sentenced along with Isonguyo in 2013, escaped from prison custody during the 2020 EndSARS protest.