A Magistrate Court in Enugu State has remanded one Mrs Ujunwa Ugwuoke in prison custody for the alleged m¥rder of a 9-year-old girl.
The 26-year-old was arrested for beating the minor, who was her house help to death and dumping her corpse in a bush.
She was arraigned before a Chief Magistrates’ Court Grade 1, presided over by U.I. Jideofor on two count charges bordering on murder by the Enugu State Police Command.
The charge marked MEN/14C/2023, Commissioner of Police Vs Ugwuoke Ujunwa, was read to the accused person in English and interpreted and explained to her in Igbo.
Count one read: “That you Ugwuoke Ujunwa ‘f’ and others now at large on 9th November 2022 at about 0900hours at No. 2, Fidelity Estate Okpara Avenue, Enugu in Enugu North Magisterial District did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit; Murder and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 494 of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Vol. 11 Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004”.
Count two read: “That you Ugwuoke Ujunwa ‘f’ and others now at large on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did unlawfully kill Precious James Korshima ‘f’ aged 9 years by b€ating her all over her body with stick which caused her d€ath and dump and set her corpse ablaze in a refuse dump site at Ugbo Nwagidi village, Enugwu-Uno Ituku, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 274(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Vol. 11 Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004”.
Inspector Bonaventure Nnadozie appeared for the prosecution, while Olu Omotayo Esq. The President of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network(CRRAN) held a brief viewing for the family of the deceased.
Inspector Nnadozie after that tendered the three original case files in respect of the case and applied that the 12 witnesses listed in the case file be bound over to testify at the High Court.
Speaking further on the case, the Enugu Police Command said its Homicide Section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (State CID) concluded investigation into the case of alleged murder of 9 years old Precious James Korshima by Mrs Ugwuoke before she was arraigned in the Enugu North Magistrate Court of the State today.
Daniel Ndukwe, spokesman of the command said the suspect was remanded in the Custodial Centre and the case-file transmitted to the Office of the Attorney General of Enugu State for perusal and legal advice, through the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), on the orders of the Magistrate.
“The investigation conducted into the case revealed that the suspect confessed to have, during the night hours of 8th November 2022, beaten and caused the death of the minor, who was her house-help, in her residence at Fidelity Estate, Okpara Avenue, Enugu.
“Thereafter, in the morning hours of the following day, she took the child’s lifeless body to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, for medication attention. However, upon getting confirmation of her death by doctors on duty, she immediately took and dumped her corpse in a refuse dump site along Ugbo-Nwagidi Village Road, Enugwueze Uno-Ituku community in Awgu Local Government Area.
“Furthermore, she evaded to Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, from where she sent a false alarm claiming that the deceased, her little child and herself, were kidnapped on 9th November 2022, on her way back home from Independence Layout, Enugu, where she had gone to refill her Gas Cylinder, and taken to an unknown destination. She further claimed that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of twenty million naira (N20,000,000.00) for each of them.
“The suspect resurfaced on 16th November 2022, claiming that the kidnappers spared her and her child’s life, but shot the deceased dead. Hence, the case, which was initially reported at the New Haven Police Division as a case of kidnapping, was transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping Command Unit and further moved to the Homicide Section of the State CID Enugu, upon her confessional statement.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, fdc, while commending the painstaking efforts made by the Police Detectives to lay a firm foundation for the dispensation of justice in the case, has charged parents to be mindful of whom they, under whatsoever guise, entrust the custody and care of their children, to avoid disheartening situations of this nature”
