A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced three men to death by hanging for the killing of a pharmacist, Muenalo Sunday, in Khana Local Government Area of the state.
The convicts, Confidence Kirinee, popularly known as General Ilia, Precious Mona, and Soniabari Sagha, were convicted on charges bordering on conspiracy, cultism, kidnapping and murder.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Augusta Chukwu held that the prosecution proved its case against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
The court also sentenced another defendant, Loveday Legah, to life imprisonment for his involvement in cult-related activities connected to the crime.
According to the court, the convicts were members of the Iceland cult group and had conspired to abduct and kill the pharmacist on March 5, 2019, in Zaakpo community, Khana LGA.
Justice Chukwu said evidence presented during the trial, including the confessional statements of the accused persons, established that the victim was murdered and parts of his body mutilated before his remains were dumped in a pit. The court further heard that the victim’s severed head was allegedly taken to a shrine located in a bush in a nearby community.
Based on the findings, the judge sentenced Kirinee, Mona and Sagha to death by hanging, while Legah was handed life imprisonment for belonging to a secret cult linked to the killing.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chief State Counsel in the Rivers State Ministry of Justice, Preye Ordu, described the verdict as well deserved, praising the court for delivering a detailed ruling after what he said was a lengthy trial.
He noted that the judgment would bring relief to the family of the deceased who had feared justice might not be achieved.
Ordu said, “This judgment will give hope to the family of the victim who were worried that justice might not be served. Today, justice has been done for both the living and the dead.”
The widow of the slain pharmacist, Pretty Neewa-Sunday, also expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision, stating that those responsible for her husband’s death had received the punishment they deserved.
“They have faced the consequences of their actions because they killed my husband who did nothing to them,” she said.
She added that her late husband had been her main source of support, noting that she lives with sickle cell disease.
“My greatest pain is that I am a sickle cell patient and my husband was the one caring for me.
Now I have become a widow, something we never imagined would happen,” she said.