Court
Enugu: Trial of suspected killers of make-up artist stalled, as police find missing 6yr-old boy
[From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki]
Trial of the suspected killers of a female make-up artiste, Ijeoma Nneke at the Enugu State High Court was on Thursday, stalled.
This followed an oral motion by the Prosecuting Counsel, Mrs Ngozi Ikem-Okoye notifying the Court of her intention to amend the charges preferred against the suspects, Chiamaka Ifezue and Chukwuemeka Ifezue.
Ikem-Okoye said that the oral motion to amend the charge was brought pursuant to Sect. 313 (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
Prosecuting Counsel is also seeking the leave of the court to call additional witnesses in the matter, which she said was brought pursuant to Sect. 283 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
The defense Counsel, Mr C. U. Okafor, in his counter argument, said that he would not oppose the oral motion to correct the typographical errors on the charges, but noted that the application by the Prosecuting Counsel, seeking the leave of the court to call more witnesses was unnecessary as the accused had yet to take pleas.
Okafor said that the case was not yet before the court, adding that it was obvious that the Prosecutor was not ready to prosecute the case.
In his ruling, Justice I.K Okpe adjourned the case till August 25th 2021, for ruling on the applications to call additional witnesses and for the accused persons to take plea.
The suspects are standing trial for conspiring to kill Miss Nneke on November, 11, 2020 at N66 Ozubulu Street, Independence Layout, Enugu.
Meanwhile, in a related development, a 6-year-old boy whose name could not be ascertained has been found at Holy Ghost Market Enugu State.
He was found wandering around the area by a good Nigerian who took him to the Central Police Station, Enugu State.
This was contained in a statement signed by the State Police Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe and made available to Journalists on Thursday in Enugu.
According to him, the boy is about 3ft tall, dark in complexion and observed to be defective in speech.
The statement reads, “Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform the general public that on 26th July, 2021 at about 1710hrs, a male child of about 6 years old was found wandering at Holy Ghost, Enugu and brought to Central Police Station (CPS), Enugu, by a Good Samaritan.
“Meanwhile, all efforts made to obtain other details of the child and reunite him with his family proved abortive.
“Hence, the parents, guardian, relatives or anyone with useful information that will help in reuniting the child with his family, are advised to promptly visit Central Police Station, Enugu or call 08034490387.”
