BY ADELEKE ADESANYA
A court in Benue State has sentenced seven children of the same parents to death for the murder of their brother, Vincent Ebere.
The convicts are Peter, Elias, Chibueze, Emmanuel, Simon, Patrick and Godwin all of the Ebere family, in Enyikpo Ulayi village, Ado Local Government Area of Benue State.
They were sentenced to death by hanging by Justice Wilfred Kpochi for criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide punishable with death.
During the trial, the Court was told how the convicts conspired and agreed among themselves to kill their brother, Vincent Ebere.
Armed with cutlasses and sticks, the convicts hit the deceased on the head with machetes on December 25, 2012, which led to his death.
Justice Kpochi, while delivering his judgement, turned down the plea of allocutus by the defendants, maintaining that it was of no effect and that the punishment for the heinous crime was mandatory.
He held that the prosecution had proved his case beyond all reasonable doubts and accordingly sentenced all the accused to death by hanging.
Speaking shortly after the judgement, the Prosecuting Chief State Counsel, Ada Ocholi, said it would serve as a deterrent to others since nobody was permitted to take the laws into their hands.
On her part, the wife of the deceased, Felicia Ebere, thanked the Court for the judgement and the Judiciary for the manner in which the case was handled.
