The General Overseer of the Altar of Solution and Healing Assembly based at Oyigbo Community in Rivers State, Chidiebere Okoroafor, has been sentenced to death by hanging for multiple murder by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Africa Update reports.
Pastor Okoroafor, was standing trial for killing his choir mistress, Orlunma Nwagba, who he allegedly impregnated, Orlunma’s friend, Chigozie Ezenwa, and her nine month old baby girl, Cresabel, on December 11, 2017, in the Oyigbo.
The trial judge, S.O Benson, in his judgement said the evidence and confessional statements from the pastor showed that he committed the crime.
Justice Benson said the prosecution proved the case of murder against the cleric and ordered he should be Killed by hanging him on his neck until he is dead or should be injected with a lethal injection which also kills faster.
Speaking to newsmen outside the courtroom, the prosecution counsel from the State Ministry of Justice, Precious Ordu, expressed happiness over the judgement.
While noting that the prosecution had received several threats in the course of the trial, Ordu expressed delight that justice has prevailed.
He stated” Justice has been served to the state, the complainant, and the convict.
“This will serve as a deterrent to all those who intend to commit the same offence because it is justice for all.”
Ordu thanked the International Federation of Women Lawyers, who brought up the case before the state took over.
On his part, Counsel to the defendant, Dr Innocent Ekwu, said he and his team will appeal the judgement, saying the court ‘misconceived the law’
Ekwu stated, “The court held that there was no eyewitness, not even one throughout the trial. The court also held that there was no circumstantial evidence linking the fellow to murder.
“But that the court convicted him of murder on account of his confessional statements.
“We, as counsel to the defendant, have decided to appeal the case. We are going to file our notice of appeal as quickly as possible because we have grounds on which we believe that the defendant did not commit the offence.
“And that the trial court misapprehended the facts and also misconceived the law.
Celebrating the conviction on Facebook, the Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers, Rivers State Branch, Mrs. Adata Bio Briggs, wrote: In 2018, Pastor Chidiebere Okoroafor was arraigned before Hon. Magistrate Kariba Braide on three counts of murder (suit No. PMC/456c/2018) for strangling his pregnant lover, Concilia Ezenwa, and killing two others, Uluoma Onweagba and her nine-month-old baby, to conceal their affair. The pastor, aged 32 and a preacher at Altar of Solution Church in Oyigbo, Port Harcourt, was remanded in prison and directed to face trial at the high court.
The crime happened on December 11, 2017, when the cleric allegedly killed Ezenwa in an uncompleted building and Onweagba in a bush. The latter, who was carrying a five-month-old pregnancy, had the baby strapped to her back, and the child died from hitting her head when the pastor pushed Onweagba to the ground. Okoroafor committed the premeditated, callous, and inhumane offense to cover up his impregnation of the 25-year-old choir mistress, who refused to abort the baby.
The victims’ families reported their disappearance when they did not return from seeing the pastor. After a diligent search by the community members and the police, the decomposing corpses of Onweagba and the baby were found in a bush along the Afam-lgberu Road on December 13, 2017. Ezenwa’s corpse was discovered on December 18, 2017, in an uncompleted building in the Izuoma Community in Oyigbo.
The High Court found Okoroafor guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging, thanks to the diligent prosecution of the matter by State counsel Precious Ordu, Esq. and Fida Nigeria Rivers State Branch Assistant Publicity Secretary Concellia Enwereuzoh, Esq.
The verdict aims to deter other potential murderers from following in the pastor’s footsteps.
