Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
An Izzi High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, has sentenced a 30-year-old man to death by hanging for killing an 18-year-old SS2 student after the deceased revealed their sexual relationship, which resulted in the deceased experiencing anal problems.
The convict, Boniface Abraham Edigbo, killed the deceased, Ogbonna Joshua, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, by poisoning him in a hotel after their last sexual encounter on the night of Monday, May 22, 2023.
The deceased, until his death, was a student at Community Secondary School, Amachi, in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.
Edigbo was sentenced to death by hanging for the crime last weekend.
He had been in a relationship with the boy since 2021.
In 2023, they made a covenant not to reveal the relationship to anyone.
However, when the deceased started experiencing anal problems, he reported it to the principal of the school and some students, and the matter became public.
The defendant then lured the boy to Edigbo Guest House, where they spent the night of Monday, May 22, 2023.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 2023, he brought out a Fanta drink and Sniper insecticide, added the Sniper to the Fanta, and gave it to the boy, who drank it and died.
After the boy died, Edigbo left the hotel, reported the matter to a woman, and explained that he did not intend to kill the boy but acted because the boy revealed their homosexual relationship to others.
The woman told him to wait while she went to get money for him to leave the state, but instead reported the incident to the youths of the community.
The youths swiftly apprehended him and took him back to Edigbo Guest House, where they found the boy in room 006 lying lifeless.
The trial judge, Justice Ruth Okeh, found Boniface Abraham Edigbo guilty of the offence and sentenced him to death by hanging.
The prosecuting counsel, Mrs Ijeoma Mike-Ajanwachukwu, hailed the judgment.
She said the judgment will serve as a deterrent to others who have been committing such heinous crimes in society
