Justice Muntar Abimbola of Oyo State High Court yesterday handed a seven-year jail term to Mrs. Yewande Oyediran, an official of the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP), Ministry of Justice, Oyo State, for killing her husband, Oyelowo Oyediran.
The court found her guilty of manslaughter, since the crime was spontaneous, being fallout of marital fight.
According to the court, the murder was not premeditated, as Yewande did not have the intention of killing Oyelowo.
Oyelowo died on February 2, 2016, after he was stabbed in the neck during a fight with Yewande, in their home at 30 Adeniyi Layout, Abidiodan, Akobo, Ibadan.
Yewande, who admitted stabbing her husband with scissors and not a knife, stood trial from February 2016 till yesterday, for the crime, which is contrary to Section 316 and 319 of Criminal Code Law, Cap 38, Vol II, Laws of Oyo State 2000, as amended.
The court said evidences presented proved that Yewande caused Oyelowo neck injury with the knife, which eventually led to his death, following a marital fight.
Delivering judgment, Justice Abimbola, Chief Judge of Oyo State, said: “Having considered the plea for leniency by the defence counsel and all the circumstances and status of the defendant upon which I am called upon, I shall be lenient. The defendant is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment, and the term of imprisonment is to run from the date of her arrest.”
The court explained that Yewande’s offence was a case of manslaughter and not murder because in a case of murder, the intention to kill is a vital ingredient necessary to be established and proved by the prosecution.
The judge said the prosecution did not establish beyond reasonable doubt the intention exhibited by Yewande to kill her husband.
She held that the defendant unlawfully killed the deceased in the circumstances that did “not constitute murder and she’s found guilty of manslaughter.”
The lead defence counsel, Mr. Leye Adepoju, said the defence team would obtain and study the judgment and thereafter decide whether to proceed to the Court of Appeal or not.
“We have been able to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter. This is something, and we’ll take off from there. It is difficult to follow a judgment that is being read because we’re just hearing it. But by the time it is produced into a document, and we are served, we’ll look at it. If we have issues, we may proceed on appeal. But if there is no issue, there won’t be need to appeal,” Adepoju said.
The private counsel employed by the Ministry of Justice to prosecute the case, Mr. Sanyaolu Akinyele, said he would report what happened in the court to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State. He, however, described the judgment as well-researched.
In the same vein, a legal practitioner, Mr. Femi Aborisade, who represented a non-governmental organisation, Women Arise, said: “With this judgment, Lowo has got justice.”
The lawyer added: “I agreed that the court has done justice to Lowo based on the facts presented. The court held that the defendant did not have intention to kill her husband. The fight between them led the defendant to stab her husband, which led to his death. When there was no intention to kill, the court held under Section 319 that the case was a manslaughter. Under the law, the minimum is seven years imprisonment and maximum is 25 years imprisonment.”
|Sun