Court remands man accused of ritual killing

A Benin High Court, Edo State, on Friday remanded a 62-year-old man, Martins Oghenevurie, in a correctional centre for alleged murder for ritual purposes.

The judge, Williams Aziegbemhin, remanded the defendant in the correctional centre after the prosecution appealed for time to seek advice from the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Justice Aziegbemhin adjourned the case until 30 May for hearing.

Mr Oghenevurie is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder.

The prosecutor, I.E. Ekibade, told the court that the defendant, along with one Edward Oghenevurie, who is now at large, allegedly committed the offence on 23 April at House 2, Martin Close, Off Martins Street, Off Ikhueniro, with the Benin judicial division.

Mr Ekibade alleged that the defendants conspired amongst themselves to commit a felony, to wit: Murder.

He said on the said the defendants, armed with a dangerous weapon, attacked and murdered a woman, whose identity was yet unknown, and cut off her private parts, breasts, and other female organs for ritual purposes.

He said the offences contravened Sections 247 and 242(1) of the Criminal Law of Edo State Law, 2022.

In a motion ex parte, citing relevant sections of the law, the prosecutor urged the court to remand the defendant in a correctional centre for 14 days pending legal advice from the DPP’s office.

There is a high rate of ritual killings in Nigeria, with the perpetrators harvesting their victims’ organs for money-making sacrifices.

In July 2022, the residents of Igbe Ibuya neighbourhood of Benin, Edo, were horrified by the gruesome murder of an 80-year-old grandmother by suspected fraudsters, otherwise known as “Yahoo boy”

The Tribune newspaper reported that the victim was sexually abused before she was murdered and her body dismembered for ritual purposes.

“These murders are mostly orchestrated by close acquaintances who betray their prey and set them up for gruesome mutilation to make money through ritual practices,” said the Punch newspaper in a 22 September 2024 report on how Nigerian youths have taken to ritual murders.

The paper cited the killing of Damilola Olowoyo, a 17-year-old student of the Federal University, Lokoja, in Kogi State, for ritual purposes after a young man drugged her.

A Muslim group in Nigeria, the Muslim Ummah, attributed the increase in the rate of ritual killings in the country to the refusal of governors to sign death warrants after convicted murderers have been sentenced to death.

“So many people have been convicted, but governors will later use the prerogative of mercy to release them after they have been convicted, that’s why ritual killings have not reduced,” the Vanguard newspaper quoted the leader of the group as saying.

(NAN)