A High Court sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, has sentenced Onuwa Ijie to death and Nwanozie Uzor to 14 years imprisonment for the murder and conspiracy to murder twin boys, Chidalu and Chigozie Agwunobi.

The court, presided over by Justice Onome Marshal-Umukoro, sentenced the two convicts for the murder of the seven-year-old boys.

The prosecution, conducted by Deputy Director in the Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Paula Akpoguma, called five witnesses to prove the case.

The court held that the testimony of the five witnesses proved the case against the two defendants beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution stated that tragedy struck the family of Olise Agwunobi of Oko-Ogbele Community on March 5, 2020, when their seven-year-old twin boys were lured by the defendants to a bush. There, the defendants cut off the boys’ penises, eyes, tongues, and hands, which they hurriedly took to a native doctor in Aguleri, Anambra State.

“One of the defendants had earlier gone to the school of the twin children to take them but was turned down by the school teacher, Mrs. Emelda Ezekwude,” she said.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Marshal-Umukoro stated that after carefully evaluating the evidence presented before him, the prosecution had discharged the burden of proof. The first defendant, from his confessional statement, sowed the seed of committing human rituals in the mind of the second defendant by giving the phone number of Chukwudi Edemuzor, who was allegedly searching for twins to kill for money.

The court maintained that the testimony of an investigating police officer was not hearsay evidence and could be relied upon.

Speaking with journalists after the judgment on Tuesday, the prosecuting counsel, Akpoguma, thanked the court for upholding the cause of justice, “reaffirming that the judicial system works.”