20th March, 2013
An Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Tuesday remanded a painter, Gbadebo Oladejo, at the Ikoyi Prisons over alleged murder of his 40-year old wife, Olajumoke.
The Magistrate, Miss Y.J. Badejo-Okusanya, remanded Gbadebo, 46, along with his apprentice, Simeon Abiona, 34.
The painter, who resides at 5, Ibiye Street, Morogbo, Lagos, and the apprentice, who has no fixed address, were charged with alleged conspiracy and murder.
However, the court could not take their pleas as Badejo-Okusanya said that she needed the advice of the state’s Director of Public Prosecutions.
According to the prosecutor, Mr. Cyriacus Osuji, the defendants committed the offences on 14 February at 10 a.m. at the painter’s residence.
Osuji submitted that the apprentice slept in the painter’s two-bedroom flat when the incident occurred.
He said that the deceased cooked for the family at night after which she slept in one of the rooms while the couple’s children slept in the other room and the defendants in the sitting room.
Osuji said that the woman was allegedly discovered dead the following morning in the room, with her right eye plucked out.
“They all rushed to the room and took her body to mortuary and wanted to bury her that day but the deceased’s parents objected to the burial,” Osuji said.
He said that police investigations revealed that the deceased also had bruises on her body.
The prosecutor said that the offences contravened sections 221 and 231 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State, 2011.
The court has, however, adjourned the case till April 27 for mention.