A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, has pronounced death by hanging sentence on the husband of late gospel singer, Osinachi, Peter Nwachukwu.
That was after the court found Nwachukwu guilty of culpable homicide resulting in the death of his wife on April 8, 2022.
The presiding judge, Justice Nwosu-Iheme, held that the prosecution had discharged the burden of proof placed on it by the law and subsequently found the singer’s husband guilty.
Nwachukwu was arraigned on June 3, 2022 by the Office of Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF), on behalf of the Federal Government, on a 23-count charge .
The charge was on culpable homicide punishable with death, criminal intimidation, cruelty to children, criminal intimidation of children, and spousal battery, among others.
In the course of trial, the prosecution called 17 witnesses, including two children of the late singer.
The prosecution also tendered 25 documents as exhibits before the court.
The defendant testified for the defence and further called four other witnesses and tendered four exhibits in his defence.
Shortly before sentencing, the defence counsel, Reginald Nwali, in his allocutus pleaded with the court to be lenient in its judgment.
Similarly, the prosecution counsel, Aderonke Imala, urged the court to give force to the law as stipulated.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme subsequently sentenced Nwachukwu to death by hanging on Count 1, while he was sentenced to two years imprisonment each on Counts 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 18.
The judge also sentenced Nwachukwu to six months imprisonment on Count 10, three years imprisonment on Count 11, while he was fined the sum of N500,000 and N200,000 on Counts 6 and 7, respectively.
