A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Izzi High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, for killing an 18-year-old SS2 student after the deceased revealed their sexual relationship, which resulted in his experiencing anal problems.
The convict, Boniface Abraham Edigbo, killed the deceased, Ogbonna Joshua, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, by poisoning him in a hotel after their last sexual encounter on the night of Monday, May 22, 2023.
The deceased was a student at the Community Secondary School, Amachi, in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.
Edigbo was sentenced to death by hanging for the crime, on Friday.
He had been in a relationship with the boy since 2021.
In 2023, they made a covenant not to reveal the relationship to anyone.
However, when the deceased started experiencing anal problems, he reported it to the principal of the school and some students, and the matter became public.
The defendant then lured the boy to Edigbo Guest House, where they spent the night of Monday, May 22, 2023 together.
It was gathered that on the morning of Tuesday, May 23, he brought out a Fanta drink and insecticide, mixed both and gave it to the boy, who drank it and died.
After the boy died, Edigbo left the hotel, reported the matter to a woman, and explained that he did not intend to kill the boy but acted because the boy revealed their homosexual relationship to others.
The woman told him to wait while she went to get money for him to leave the state, but instead reported the incident to the youths of the community, who apprehended him and took him back to Edigbo Guest House, where they found the boy in Room 006 lying lifeless.
The trial judge, Justice Ruth Okeh, found Boniface Abraham Edigbo guilty of the offence and sentenced him to death by hanging.
The prosecuting counsel, Mrs Ijeoma Mike-Aja Nwachukwu, hailed the judgement.
She said the judgement would serve as a deterrent to others who had been committing such heinous crimes in society.
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