A 29-year-old housewife, Onyinyechi Akunne, was on Monday in Lagos sentenced to seven years imprisonment for stabbing to death her 35-year-old husband, Abuchi Akunne, with a kitchen knife during an argument at home over lotto tickets known as “Baba Ijebu”.
An Ikeja High Court sentenced her following a plea bargain where the initial charge of murder was changed to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to which she pled guilty.
Justice Josephine Oyefeso also rejected a clause in the plea bargain agreement where it was proposed that the housewife should serve a sentence of community service instead of a prison term.
“In view of the defendant’s pleading guilty, I hereby find her guilty of one-count charge of grievous bodily harm.
“I hereby sentence her to seven years in prison starting from the day she remanded in prison custody which was March 28, 2015,” Oyefeso said.
Before the sentence was pronounced, Akunne’s counsel, P.O. Onu, in her plea for mercy, told the court to temper justice with mercy.
“The defendant is a first-time offender, she is a mother of a toddler which she gave birth to while in prison custody. Her daughter is a year-and-seven months old, she still has a lot to offer to the society,” Mrs. Onu said.
The judge ordered that the convict’s daughter after weaning her, should be removed from the female prison and be kept in the custody of the relations.
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