Lawyer arraigned in court for stabbing husband to death

During the hearing of the case on Wednesday, January 23, 2019, a prosecuting witness, ASP Olusegun Bamidele, told the court that he was head of the team that investigated the killing and that the defendant had confessed she committed the crime.

He said she confessed in a detailed statement she made while he engaged her in a conversation while she was recuperating in hospital after the incident. Adding that she spoke freely.

Bamidele said, "While she was writing her statement, it was an interactive session. I put questions to her; she would explain the answers to me and put them down in writing. She stated in her statement that she was married to the late Symphorosa and that they had marital issues.

"She stated that the deceased was having extramarital affairs and that whenever she raised the issue with him, his responses were not satisfactory and he appeared nonchalant. She also said in the statement that on May 2, 2018, when she was preparing to travel to the United Kingdom, she checked the bedside locker for her marriage certificate but she could not find it and when she went to the deceased on the bed and asked him about it, there was no response.

"She had a discussion with him and there was a hot exchange of words, which made her to go to the kitchen and get a frying pan and knife. When she returned to where the deceased was, she hit him on the head with the frying pan and said: ‘Tell me, what is in your mind that you are withholding.’

"She stated that the deceased called his mother to report her conduct. She continued to hit the deceased on the head again and again. Finally, she confirmed that she used the knife to stab the deceased in his abdomen.

"She also said that while the deceased was lying on his back, she was still angry. She sat beside him, looking at his intestines coming out and said, 'If this your penis is the one that is giving you the licence not to have the feeling for another person, it's better we cut it off,’ and she proceeded to do so with the same knife she used in stabbing him, and hung a piece of the penis in his right hand."

He said further investigation on the case discovered that Udeme sent WhatsApp messages to a friend, husband to the deceased's younger sister, and her mum, expressing regret her actions.

Bamidele, through the prosecutor, Titilayo Shitta-Bay, tendered evidence recovered from the defendant.

The evidence included a big shiny frying pan allegedly used by the defendant on the deceased; a blood-covered kitchen knife allegedly used in killing Symphorosa; a bloodstained pen; four phones, two of which were bloodstained; and Udeme’s Nigerian and British passports.

Counsel to the defendant, Olusegun Banjoko, opposed the prosecutor's move to tender the statement his client allegedly made to the police. He claimed they were made without her lawyer being present.

In his ruling, Justice Akintoye, adjourned the case till February 25 to consider the admissibility of the statements in a trial within trial.