Justice Raliatu Adebiyi of the Lagos State High Court yesterday convicted and sentenced a 26-year-old man, Samuel Anuoluwapo to death by hanging for killing his friend during a drunken brawl.
The judge condemned Anuoluwapo to death after founding him guilty of a one count charge of murder brought against him by the Lagos State government.
The state had told the court through its counsel, Akin George that the convict committed the offence on May 2, 2012 at Oke-Afa Secondary School, Badagry, Lagos.
According to George the convict and the deceased, John Omobere, were involved in a fight after getting drunk for the consumption of locally made gin popularly called Ogogoro.
The lawyer also claimed, “The fight was allegedly instigated by a third friend who goes by the name ‘Lampard’ the convict was allegedly stabbed by the deceased with a broken bottle.
“After the convict was stabbed, he ran to his house to get a machete and inflicted deep cuts in his right arm
“The deceased did not die at the scene but at his home, the autopsy established that he died of Haemorrhagic shock and severe lacerations on his right hand,” George stated.
The prosecutor further maintained that the deceased was discovered the next day lying dead in a pool of blood in his home by members of his family.
In her judgment, Justice Adebiyi held, “the defendant, Samuel Anuoluwapo is hereby sentenced to death in accordance to Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
“May the Lord have mercy on your soul,” Adebiyi stated.
The judge also held in the judgment that prosecution established all the five ingredients necessary to secure a murder conviction.
She said, “The defendant from the facts of the case did not set out to kill the deceased but he must have known that the machete wound he inflicted caused a grievous bodily harm.
“The defendant left the scene of the fight to fetch a machete, that action was a proof of his intent to inflict the maximum injury on the deceased,” the court held.
