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Court acquits man accused of
hiding mother’s remains in
wardrobe
 Posted by: Okodili Ndidi, Owerri
 in News  7 hours ago
AN Imo State High Court has discharged and
acquitted a retired principal and Guru
Maharaji devotee, Chief Chimezie Osigwe, who
was accused of killing his 85 year-old mother.
He was also accused of hiding her remains in
his wardrobe for 10 years.
Osigwe, who was arrested in 2013 in
Ejemekuru in Oguta after the dried body of his
late mother was found in his bedroom, was
acquitted for want of evidence by Justice
Goddy Anunihu.
Delivering judgment in the suit, Justice
Anunihu ruled that the prosecution failed to
prove beyond reasonable doubt that the
accused was responsible for the death of the
victim.
He ruled that the prosecution counsel lacked
evidence to prosecute the defendant, who was
alleged to have murdered his mother in August
2004 in his compound.
“No proof that he killed his mother, since a
witness and report have said that she died as
a result of the earthquake allegedly caused by
the disturbance from the activities of the oil
company operating in the area. There is no
proof of any harm or desecration on the body
of her mother, neither was there any complaint
from the accused siblings that the victim was
murdered.
“The only fault was that the accused kept the
victim for too long. But his explanation that
he preserved the remains as evidence in the
suit against the oil company that caused the
death of his mother is rational, and as a direct
child of the deceased, he has more rights on
the deceased than the prosecution witnesses,”
the judge said.
Osigwe, who addressed reporters shortly after
the judgment, described the verdict as a
landmark judgment.
His words: “We have now seen justice
exhumed from injustice. As a member of Sat
Guru Maharaji, I want the entire world to know
that it was a dirty calumny. The truth was
covered, but it has been defended by Guru
Maharaji.
“The faith of Maharaji does not eat human
flesh. How can people, who don’t eat meat
and fish, eat human beings as they alleged?”
He narrated that his mother died as a result of
the activities of an oil company, which he
noted cracked the wall of the external
bathroom of the house, where she went to
ease herself before the walls collapsed on her.

Big story for the Gods! There are more to this than meet the eyes. when the wall killed ur mother, y didn't u involve the police imidiately?.
y didn't u sue the oil company ?.
Y didn't you alert ur kinsmen?.
Y didn't u take her body to murtuary? Or Is ur house morgue?.
Y did u keep her for so long?. Many more guestions. Infact na the same people. whether innocent or not, someone is watching - nemesis.

So na so them use wuru wuru cheat this poor soul? Na mago mago dem take deny her justice kwo. Karma dey wait for all of them. Nature takes care of all with time except those favoured by the most high himself may come to repent and avoid the backfire.

EJanni:
Big story for the Gods! There are more to this than meet the eyes. when the wall killed ur mother, y didn't u involve the police imidiately?.
y didn't u sue the oil company ?.
Y didn't you alert ur kinsmen?.
Y didn't u take her body to murtuary? Or Is ur house morgue?.
Y did u keep her for so long?. Many more guestions. Infact na the same people. whether innocent or not, someone is watching - nemesis.

He sued the oil company and won the

case
The police was involved they even testify against the oil company
His kinsmen are all away but they don't like him and did not support him because of his faith.
He decided to go into local embahmment because of the pending case with the oil company as he was broke and don't know how long the case with the company will last in court.His kinsmen did not support him and he discussed it with the police and they reasonned
with him.
He kept the mum corps for so long pending the outcome of the case with the oil company and also pending the time their Senior brother who is in the USA will come for burial arrangement

kufre2010:
He sued the oil company and won the

case
The police was involved they even testify against the oil company
His kinsmen are all away but they don't like him and did not support him because of his faith.
He decided to go into local embahmment because of the pending case with the oil company as he was broke and don't know how long the case with the company will last in court.His kinsmen did not support him and he discussed it with the police and they reasonned
with him.
He kept the mum corps for so long pending the outcome of the case with the oil company and also pending the time their Senior brother who is in the USA will come for burial arrangement

ok then.

An Imo High Court, sitting in Oguta Judicial Division and presided over by Hon. Justice Goddy Anunihu, on Tuesday discharged and acquitted Dr. Chimezie Osigwe, who has been standing murder trial.

Charged in suit number HOG/23c/2013, the state accused had Osigwe under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Cap 30 Vol. II Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963, as applicable in Imo State.

The particulars of offence was that the accused “on the 27th day of August, 2004, at Nzuru Umuagwu, Ejemekwuru in the Oguta Judicial Division, did murder your mother, Mrs. Lucy Osigwe, aged 85, by hitting her with a cement block, which caused her death”.

Giving a rundown of what transpired in the court, Justice Anunihu said that while the two prosecution witnesses narrated how nobody could trace the whereabouts of Mrs. Lucy Osigwe before the matter was reported to the police, the accused gave a graphic account of how his mother died.

In his defence, the accused narrated how the seismic work being carried out by Chevron, an oil company operating in their community at the time, caused a serious quake that destroyed the block work in the family’s toilet.

The accused also told the court that he promptly reported the incident to the police, who not only investigated the incident, but also directed him to do a post mortem examination on the deceased. The court said that it believed the defence counsel, who submitted that the prosecution did not prove the case of murder preferred against Osuigwe.

“None of the prosecution witnesses saw the actual act of killing. They did not see any mark of violence on the body of the deceased. The prosecution neither called the police nor the medical doctor that carried out the autopsy to come and give evidence. This did a colossal harm to the prosecution’s case”, the court said.

While saying that the only alleged sin of the accused was that he kept the body of the deceased for years, Justice Anunihu however ruled that being a direct son of the deceased, he had more authority over his mother’s body than any of the prosecution witnesses”.

Continuing, the court upheld that here was no desecration of the late woman’s body, stressing that he did not see any ground to convict the accused person.

“I therefore discharge and acquit you of the murder charge”, the court said.

Defence counsel to the accused Titus Ajuonuma who is a retired Director of Public Prosecution in the state, described the  judgment as absolute  justice “because my client did not kill anybody saying “anybody thinking  otherwise should come up with a cogent, credible and verifiable fact”.

An overwhelmed Osuigwe who spoke to newsmen immediately after the judgment described it as an epoch-making one, a landmark and momentous pronouncement because “we have now clearly seen justice being exhumed”, arguing that being a strong member of the Gurumaharaji sect, it was unthinkable and unimaginable for any decent mind to link him with any form of murder, not to talk of killing his own mother.

Osuigwe who appeared in a full traditional Igbo regalia reminiscent of a traditional ruler with a red cap to match was accompanied to the court by his wife, Mrs. Mamah Chinedu Osuigwe, the younger sister Mrs. Brahin (formerly Ogechi Osuigwe) and a retinue of friends and well wishers as they exchanged pleasantries with some prisoners brought to the court in handcuffs by prison warders.

Osuigwe who claimed to have survived several assassination attempts attributed the genesis of his ordeal to fruitless efforts by his community to intimidate  and to frustrate him from becoming the traditional ruler of his community but vowed to sustain the struggle which he said is a popular one.

The wife who equally  expressed shock at the accusation  of criminal murder levelled  against  her husband regretted  that a poor boy  who her husband magnanimously trained was the master mind  of his ordeal. http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/11/court-acquits-guru-disciple-murder-case/