A 30-year-old Nigerian soldier,
Lance Corporal Oge Etudo, has
been found guilty of rape and
culpable homicide and has
been sentenced to death by
hanging by an Abuja Court.
The Soldier who was formerly
attached to a battalion of the
Nigerian Army at Lungi
Barracks in Abuja, was found
guilty of abducting a lady,
whose name was given as Binta Usman Kadede, on
March 27, 2014, at Dei-Dei
suburb of the FCT.
Justice A.S. Adepoju who
ruled on the case, stressed
that the soldier gruesomely
murdered his victim after
raping her, and so will not
show mercy to him.
The soldier who maintained
he was innocent of the
charges, had this to say;
"I was a guard commander in
my Commander Tango's
house. I took a break by 10 am after submitting my arms
and ammunition to my junior,
I left to Dei-Dei to see my
friend called Igwe at Dei-Dei
to discuss about my planned
white weeding.
"I stopped at Dei-Dei to
urinate, in the process I was
attacked by some hoodlums
who inflicted injuries in me. I
ran to the Conoil filling
station", he added. He told the court that at the
time he was attacked, he was
in his military uniform and
was carrying a cash of N55,
000 on him.
"On reaching the Conoil, I shouted thief! thief! and
fainted due to loss of blood.
"I did not know what
happened after regaining
consciousness, I found myself
in the hospital Unclad."
Nevertheless, one of the
prosecution witnesses, Usman
Ishaq, a security guard at a
block industry in Dei- Dei, told
the court that he saw the
defendant force the deceased into the bush.
"He was a passenger on a
motorbike,(okada) when he
came towards the deceased
side, he told the Okada rider
to stop. He dropped from the motorcycle and asked him to
go. And he forced the
deceased – a milk seller, into
the bush.
"When I got to the point
where they entered the bush, I met the accused person on
top of the deceased with
knife. He was stabbing her on
the neck and on the
abdomen". The witness went on to tell
the court, how he mobilized
people who got the soldier
arrested after he tried to
escape.
The husband of the deceased, Usman Adamu, also testified
as prosecution witness 2. A medical report signed by a
Chief Consultant Pathologist,
Gwagwalada Specialist
Hospital, Abuja, Dr. A.U.
Mukthar, confirmed that the
deceased had injuries around the vulva area with cervical
fractures and corroborated
the uncontradicted evidence
of the eye-witness who saw
the accused person on top of
the deceased with a knife
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