CENTUS NWEZE REPORTING
Ujunwa Ugwoke, a wife in Enugu, South East of Nigeria has stunned proceedings in the state’s Magistrates’ Court Grade 1, presided over by Mrs. U.I. Jideofor, with her act of exceptional cruelty in the killing of Precious Korshima, a nine year old left in her care as house help, by beating her to death.
She further went ahead to conceal the crime by playing kidnap victim, claiming in the process that the deceased, her child and her were kidnapped but that she made her escape while the kidnappers shot and killed poor Korshima.
Police investigations however show that she had accomplices in the crime and attempted deciet.
Ugwuoke, for now, has been remanded at the Enugu Correctional Centre for the alleged murder Korshima.
The charge sheet, No. MEN/14C/2023 – Commissioner of Police vs Ugwuoke Ujunwa, was read to the accused in English and interpreted and explained to her in Igbo, on Friday.
Count No. 1 states: “That you Ugwuoke Ujunwa ‘f’ and others now at large on the 9th day of November 2022, at about 0900hours at No. 2, Fidelity Estate Okpara Avenue, Enugu, in Enugu North Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit; murder and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 494 of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Vol. 11 Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004”.
Count 2: “That you Ugwuoke Ujunwa ‘f’ and others now at large on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did unlawfully kill Precious James Korshima ‘f’ aged 9 years by beating her all over her body with stick which caused her death and dumped and set her corpse ablaze in a refuse dump site at Ugbo Nwagidi village, Enugwu-Uno Ituku, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 274(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Vol. 11 Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004.”
Narrating the investigation that led to her arraignment, Police Public Relation Officer, Enugu state command, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, in a release made available to Journalists in Enugu, said the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (State CID) of the Enugu State Police Command, has concluded investigation into the case of alleged murder of 9 years old Precious James Korshima (female) by her guardian, one Ujunwa Ugwuoke (female) aged 29, who was arraigned in the Enugu North Magistrate Court of the State o. , 19th January 2023.
He said “The suspect was remanded in the Custodial Centre and the case-file transmitted to the Office of the Attorney General of Enugu State for perusal and legal advice, through the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), on the orders of the Magistrate.
“The investigation conducted into the case revealed that the suspect confessed to have, during the night hours of 8th November 2022, beaten and caused the death of the minor, who was her house-help, in her residence at Fidelity Estate, Okpara Avenue, Enugu. Thereafter, in the morning hours of the following day, she took the lifeless body of the child to University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, for medication attention. However, upon getting confirmation of her death by doctors on duty, she immediately took and dumped her corpse in a refuse dump site along Ugbo-Nwagidi Village Road, Enugwueze Uno-Ituku community in Awgu Local Government Area.
“Furthermore, she evaded to Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, from where she sent a false alarm claiming that the deceased, her little child and herself, were kidnapped on 9th November 2022, on her way back home from Independence Layout Enugu, where she had gone to refill her Gas Cylinder, and taken to an unknown destination. She further claimed that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of twenty million naira (N20,000,000.00) for each of them.
“The suspect, however, resurfaced on 16th November 2022, claiming that the kidnappers spared her and her child’s life, but shot the deceased dead. Hence, the case, which was initially reported at New Haven Police Division as a case of kidnapping, was transferred to Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command and further transferred to the Homicide Section of the State CID Enugu, upon her confessional statement.