An Ikeja High Court on Wednesday, April 26, sentenced a 32-year-old carpenter, Onyekachi Agu, to seven years imprisonment for pouring acid on his ex-girlfriend, Aishat Adefarati, and her new lover, Monsuru Ahmed.
Justice Oyindamola Ogala handed down the jail term after finding Agu guilty of a count of causing grievous bodily harm to two persons in 2020.
When Agu was arraigned, the state prosecutor, Uju Uwangaze, told the court that he committed the offence on July 3, 2020, at Gangare Hotel, Mile 12, in Lagos.
She said Agu traced the victims to the hotel and poured acid on them.
According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened Section 245 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
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The convict in his plea for mercy told the court that he was sorry, and asked Ahmed, who was present in court, to forgive him.
The convict however pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.
In her judgment, Justice Ogala found the defendant guilty on the grounds of his confessional statement and sentenced him accordingly.
The judge said: “The defendant tried to mislead the court by claiming to have been with his brother on the said day but he failed to corroborate his evidence by giving the date and day he visited him.
“His ‘brother’ who he tried to use as an alibi, was nowhere to be found to give evidence before this court.
“Pouring a corrosive substance on the victims was never contradicted by the defendant.
“The action of the defendant was considered an intention.
“The victims showed to the court, the level of damage to their bodies,’’
Ogala said that the case of the prosecution was premised on circumstantial evidence.
“The testimony of the defendant’s former lover on how she had been harassed and assaulted by him, later led to their separate ways after three years of relationship.
“In view of the evidence before the court, I hereby find the defendant guilty of the charge against him, and he is hereby sentenced to seven years jail term,” Ogala said.
