Justice Nwosu-Iheme of the FCT High Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Monday sentenced Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of the late gospel singer Osinachi, to death by hanging.
Nwachukwu was found guilty of culpable homicide, which led to the death of his wife on 8 April 2022.
The judge ruled that the prosecution had successfully met the burden of proof required by law and, as a result, found the defendant guilty.
Nwachukwu was arraigned on 3 June 2022 by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF), on behalf of the Federal Government, facing a 23-count charge.
The charges included culpable homicide punishable by death, criminal intimidation, cruelty to children, criminal intimidation of children, and spousal battery, among others.
During the trial, the prosecution called 17 witnesses, including two of the late Osinachi’s children, who testified as the fourth and fifth prosecution witnesses (PW4 and PW5, respectively).
The prosecution also presented 25 documents as exhibits before the court.
The defendant testified in his own defence, calling four additional witnesses and submitting four exhibits.
Just before sentencing, the defendant’s counsel, Reginald Nwali, in his allocutus, pleaded for leniency in the court’s judgment.
In response, prosecution counsel, Mrs Aderonke Imala, urged the court to enforce the law as prescribed.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme subsequently sentenced Nwachukwu to death by hanging on Count 1, while he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on Counts 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 18.
The court also sentenced the defendant to six months’ imprisonment on Count 10, three years’ imprisonment on Count 11, and fined him N500,000 and N200,000 on Counts 6 and 7, respectively.
