An Enugu State High Court has sentenced Chiamaka Ifezue to d£ath by hanging for the m¥rder of a 27-year-old makeup artist, Ijeoma Nneke.
The court presided over by Honourable Justice Kenneth Okpe, in a two-hour judgement on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, found the accused, Chiamaka Ifezue, guilty of k!!ling the victim by forcing her to drink a p@isonous substance.
Recall that Ijeoma went missing after leaving home for a job on November 11, 2020.
Her mutilated c@rpse was later found around Maryland in Enugu metropolis on November 16.
Ifezue and her brother, Chukwuemeka, were arrested and arraigned before the court on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and m¥rder in 202.
They were accused of forcing Nneke to drink a p@isonous substance that caused her death.
The suspects allegedly dumped her body in the Maryland axis of the Enugu metropolis and poured a corrosive substance suspected to be acid on it
During the trial, Justice Okpe discharged Chukwuemeka following a no-case submission pleaded by the defence counsel, Mr Chuma Oguejiofor.
In discharging Chukwuemeka, the trial judge held that there was no evidence that he participated in the crime.
However, delivering the final judgement on the case, Justice Okpe said the prosecution proved the case of m¥rder against Ifezue beyond a reasonable doubt
The court agreed with the submissions of Chinelo Chigbo, who led the prosecution from the Department of Public Prosecution, that the suspect was responsible for the death of the 27-year-old makeup artist based in Enugu.
The court consequently found Ifezue guilty of m¥rder and sentenced her to d£ath by hanging.
During the trial, the court admitted in evidence police exhibits on the case of the alleged murder of the makeup artist.
