ADelta State High Court has handed down a verdict in a case involving ritual killing, sentencing Onuwa Ijie to death for the murder of twin boys.
His accomplice, Nwanozie Uzor, received a 14-year prison sentence.
The case brings attention to the concerning trend of ritual killings in the region, and the court’s decision demonstrates a strong stance against such egregious offenses. The twin boys’ lives were tragically cut short for nefarious purposes.
According to a report by SaharaReporters on June 28, 2023, a tragic incident occurred in the Oko-Ogbele community of Oshimili South Local Government Area in Delta State, involving the family of Olise Agwunobi.
Two relatives, in collusion with their neighbor, allegedly abducted and murdered twin brothers Chidalu and Chigozie Agwunobi, aged seven.
The victims were reportedly buried in a shallow grave for suspected money ritual purposes, causing distress to the family and prompting community mourning.
Following the murder, the convicts were arrested and handed over to the police which after investigation charged them with murder.
Delivering judgement on the case, the trial judge, Justice Onome Marshal Umukoro convicted the duo for murder.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the State Ministry of Justice, Onoriode Etatsemi, said that Justice Umukoro declared while delivering judgement that the court carefully evaluated the evidence presented before it and agreed that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court which sat in Asaba, the Delta State Capital, held that the prosecution discharged the burden of proof, noting that from the confessional statement of the first defendant, it was clear that he sowed the seed of committing rituals in the mind of the second defendant by giving the phone number of one Chukwudi Edemuzor who was alleged to be searching for twins to kill for money.
The court maintained that the law is settled that the testimony of an Investigating Police oOfficer is not hearsay evidence and the court can rely on it.
According to the release, the prosecution conducted by a Deputy Director from the Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Paula Akpoguma in proof of the case called five witnesses.
The release added that a sixth witness, 15-year-old Iweka Ajie, a younger brother of one of the defendants tried to testify via video link but at the last minute out of fear, refused to adopt his deposition on oath.
The prosecution told the court that one of the defendants had earlier gone to the school of the twin children to take them but was turned down by the school.
Regardless, the release added that the court relied on the testimony of the five witnesses to hold that the case against the two defendants was proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Mr. Olise Agwunobi, the father of the twins, shared a heartbreaking account of the incident with SaharaReporters in June 2023.
He explained that his uncle, brother, and neighbour conspired to kill his two children, Chiagozi and Chidelu Agwunobi, for money rituals.
The family is still reeling in shock and confusion, struggling to comprehend the tragedy, he told SaharaReporters.
According to Mr. Agwunobi, he returned home from work in the evening to find that the twins were missing.
They rarely left the house after school, so when they didn’t return by 7 pm, he and his wife raised an alarm, alerting the entire community. They had already checked with the school teachers and families of the twins’ classmates, who confirmed that the children had left school for home. The family’s search for the twins led to the devastating discovery that they had been killed for money rituals.
“So, immediately the community formed search parties to look for the children and for four days everybody was looking for them,” he said, adding that at a point one of the neighbours informed him that he saw his brother with the twins but could not say where they he took them to,” he said.
