LAGOS COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR KILLING HIS WIFE WITH ACID

A Lagos High Court in Ikeja yesterday sentenced a man, Sulaiman Olalekan, to death by hanging for the murder of his wife, Mrs. Chika Egbo, on November 20, 2012 by bathing her with acid. Olalekan had allegedly accused the deceased of going back to prostitution against his advice..

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The condemned man reportedly met his wife at a hotel in the Ijeshatedo area of Lagos State, from where they started a relationship that resulted in marriage. The court heard that after the marriage, the husband bought her a second-hand Volkswagen bus and also paid her school fees at the Enugu College of Education. 

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But the deceased reportedly reneged on her commitment to the relationship by returning to prostitution, which caused Olalekan to procure acid from a battery charger in the Ikotun area of the state. 

He was said to have deceitfully invited her to visit his mother on the said day, an opportunity he used to pour the acid on her. After the victim’s death, the Lagos State government, through the state’s Ministry of Justice, took over the prosecution of the case and filed necessary processes in court.

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The trial judge, Justice Lawal Akapo, in arriving at his judgment, said he believed that the murder of Egbo by Olalekan was premeditated. He, therefore, convicted him for the offence and sentenced him to death accordingly. Olalekan is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan. He had a four year old daughter with the deceased.