A Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has jailed a couple, Steve and Fortune Nwankwo, for killing their teenage house maid, Joy Adole.
The presiding judge, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, convicted the couple after finding them guilty of conspiracy and manslaughter.
The court sentenced the couple living at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga, Lagos to 16 years combined imprisonment for the crimes, which they committed in April 2020.
An agent had taken the late teenager, an indigene of Benue State, to Lagos State for domestic work.
In her ruling, the judge in the suit no ID/13178C/20 against the couple, held that the prosecution proved the charges of manslaughter, conspiracy and attempt to pervert justice and misconduct beyond doubt.
The judge also ruled that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were strong and corroborated the fact that the maid died due to the beating by Fortune.
According to the judge, the first defendant, who is the wife, assaulted and beat the Benue State indegene domestic worker and to death.
The judge said the deceased was well but fell sick after receiving the beating from the woman, adding that the couple did not inform or call the family of the deceased from 5.00am when they found out she had died.
The judge further said that it was until noon that the second defendant, who is the husband, called the deceased’s sister to request her full name and other personal information before her embalming in the morgue.
Justice Ogala said: “After Steve realized that Joy had been killed by his wife after the beating, assisted her in perverting the course of justice by hanging the body.
“The hanging was staged, the deceased was hanged by a rope and the position the police found her body did not depict suicide as her feet were on the floor.
“Both husband and wife tampered with evidence when they embalmed the body, which made it difficult for the toxicologist to carry out an autopsy.”
The judge, therefore, sentenced the wife to 14 years and the husband to two years imprisonment.