Federal High Court sitting in Asokoro, Abuja, on Monday sentenced a 22-year-old cleaner, Maryam Adewumi, to 20 years imprisonment for causing the death of her boyfriend, Shallom Oliseh.
Ravenewsonline reports that Adewumi was initially charged with culpable homicide punishable by death.
Delivering judgment, Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme held that the prosecution successfully proved the offence of culpable homicide not punishable by death against the defendant.
“I find the defendant guilty of culpable homicide not punishable with death and convict her accordingly,” the judge ruled.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme subsequently sentenced Adewumi to 20 years imprisonment with effect from July 5, 2024, the date of her arrest.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Adama Musa, told the court that the convict engaged in a physical altercation with the deceased at Kurudu area of Abuja on July 5, 2024.
Musa said during the fight, Adewumi stabbed Oliseh in the chest with a knife, causing severe injuries that later resulted in his death.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravened Sections 220(a) and (b) of the Penal Code and is punishable under Section 221 of the law.
The defence counsel, Williams Ataguba, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that the convict had no previous criminal record.
Ataguba also informed the court that Adewumi is a mother of two children who are currently without parental care following the death of her grandmother, while both of her parents are also deceased.
He further told the court that the convict had already spent more than two years in detention and expressed remorse over the incident.
In her testimony, Adewumi claimed that she acted in self-defence and had no intention of killing the deceased.
