Lawyer bags 7-year jail term for killing husband

An Ibadan lawyer who killed her husband got yesterday the reward of her action  — seven years in jail.

Justice Munta Abimbola of the Oyo State High Court, Ring Road, Ibadan  convicted Yewande Oyediran of manslaughter. The term is to run from the day of her arrest.

The court held that although the evidence showed that she killed her husband, none of the witnesses established the intent of the accused or described seeing her stabbing the deceased.

The judge noted that the killing was done without intent, going by the fact that the parties were married at the time of the incident.

The accused stabbed her husband, Lowo Oyediran, in the neck on February 2, 2016 at their 30, Adeniyi Layout, Abidi-odan, Akobo, Ibadan home, following a misunderstanding.

Yewande, an official of the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP), Ministry of Justice, Oyo State, had been on trial since February, last year.

She was arraigned on a one- count charge of killing her man with a knife.

The offence was said to be contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the laws of Oyo State.

The accused pleaded not guilty when the trial began.

The judge said that with the evidence before the court, the convict and her late husband had frequently engaged in domestic violence.

He also adjudged the evidence of the couple’s landlord and wife, Mr and Mrs Akinpelu, as credible.

The landlord and his wife had told the court that they saw the convict holding a knife, while blood was flowing from the deceased’s body.

“Having seen the defendant holding a knife and the defendant had earlier confirmed that she had earlier stabbed her husband with a pair of scissors a day before, I hold that it was the defendant that stabbed the deceased,’’ said the judge.

Justice Abimbola also said that he considered the autopsy report of Prof. Abideen Oluwashola, a consultant from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

“According to the autopsy report, the deceased died as a result of shock from a deep wound caused by a sharp object,’’ the judge added.

The court said the evidence of the convict could not be relied upon, because her statement with the police was different from her statement before the court.

The private prosecutor engaged by the Ministry of Justice to prosecute the case, Mr. Akinyele Sanyaolu, expressed satisfaction. He described the judgment as well researched.

He added that he would report what happened in the court to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Oyo State for a directive.

He said: “I am satisfied with the judgment but i don’t know whether the state will be happy or not. I will write my report to the Oyo State Government through the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to look into it.

“The court has really done a very great job. The issue was that, the court was able to establish between murder and manslaughter when it comes to matrimonial matters and that is why it came to the issue of intention which was why the court didn’t sentence the accused to death because they were married and the law presumed that she doesn’t have the intention to kill her husband but if it were to be a third party, such a person is going to the gallow.

“That was the reason the court had to substitute it with manslaughter.”

A lawyer Mr. Femi Aborisade, who represented a non-governmental organisation, Women Arise, described the judgment as “justice for Lowo”

He said: “I think that the court has done justice to Lowo because the Court painstakingly, soberly and calmly appraised the evidence before it and came to the conclusion that the defendant is guilty as charged and I think that is justice for Lowo.