Ololade Adeyanju/
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced to death a Police Sergeant, Mr. Lucky Orji and two others for the murder of four students, who were lynched in Aluu community in 2012.
The two others sentenced to death are, David Chinasa Ogbada and Ikechukwu Louis Amadi (aka Kapoon).
The court presided over by Justice Nyordee also discharged and acquitted four other accused persons, Saviour Johnny, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe and Cyril Abang.
According to the Judge, the prosecution failed to prove its case of murder against the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th accused persons beyond every reasonable doubt.
The four students of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Ugonna Obuzor, Toku Lloyd, Tekena Elkannah and Chiadika Biringa, were murdered by a mob at Aluu community, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state on October 5, 2012.
12 suspects were recommended for prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecution, I. Otorubio, but five of the suspects, including the traditional ruler of Umuokiri, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, were discharged and acquitted on January 27, 2017.
Justice Nyordee, while delivering judgment noted that the prosecution counsel was able to prove the involvement of the three persons through a video evidence presented to the court.
Nyordee held that evidence given against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants in the matter were overwhelming, adding their statements in the murder was confirmed in the video evidence that they actively took part in the killing of the four students.
He ruled that the statement of the 4th, 5th 6th and 7th defendants in the matter justified their position that they were not involved in the murder, adding that it was corroborated by the video evidence of the prosecution counsel which only captured the presence of the suspects at the scene of the incidence.
The trial judge explained that role played by the three convicted persons in the murder were unjustifiable, adding that their actions were intended to terminate the lives of the victims, stressing that 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants were guilty of murder.
Making reference to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Vol. 2, Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria, 1999, Nyordee sentenced the three to death for taking the lives of other persons unjustifiably.
The trial judge maintained that the death of the four students was the most condemnable and cannot be justified, adding that the victims had great hope and future for their families.
Nyordee also lashed out on the security operatives for their failure to take their role of protection of lives and upholding of law seriously, regretting that the security personnel at the scene of the crime could not save the situation.
He said no explanation would ever be valid on why the Joint Military Task Force, the Aluu Police Post, Isiopko Divisional Police Headquarters and C4I security outfit, which were beckoned and were present, could not mobilise to rescue the victims, against whom the allegation of robbery could not be proven.
The victims had, reportedly, gone to the town to collect a debt from a fellow student, but their alleged debtor raised the alarm that the quartet were thieves that had come to attack him.
The false alarm attracted a mob that first paraded the victims naked round the town, before they were beaten and burnt to death in the presence of a policeman.
The victims, who were not found with any weapon, made desperate attempts to protest their innocence, but were ignored by the bloodthirsty mob.
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