A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers has sentenced a pastor, Chidiebere Okoroafor, to death by hanging for murder.
Okoroafor, who is the General Overseer of a new generation church based in Oyigbo area of the State was tried for killing his choir mistress, Orlunma Nwagba, who he allegedly impregnated.
He also faced murder charges for the killing of Nwagba’s friend, Chigozie Ezenwa, and her eleven-month-old daughter, Cresabel, on December 11, 2017, in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state.
Justice S O Benson in his judgment on the murder trial delivered Monday said the evidence and confessional statement by Pastor Okoroafor proved he murdered his Church’s choir mistress after getting her pregnant and also killed her friend, Chigozie Ezenwa with her daughter, Christabel Ezenwa.
Justice Benson insisted that the prosecution proved the case of murder against Pastor Okoroafor, ordering that the Pastor be killed by hanging on his neck until he is dead or be injected with a lethal injection which also kills faster.
Reacting, counsel for the defendant, Innocent Ekwu, said he and his team would appeal the judgment.
“We, as counsel for the defendant, have decided to appeal the case. We are going to file our notice of appeal as quickly as possible because we have grounds on which we believe that the defendant did not commit the offence,” he said.
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