NIGERIA: COURT SENTENCES VARSITY WORKER TO DEATH

January 31, 2013: In Nigeria, a Delta State High Court sitting in Orerokpe, Okpe Local Government Area, has sentenced a 27-year-old David Erhirhie to death for being found guilty of murder.
The court sentenced Erhirhie, a university worker, to death, having been found guilty of the murder of Miss Chinoso Ijezie, an admission seeker in 2009, an offence punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Law  State Cap C 21 Law of Delta State.
Erhirhie, it will be recalled, who until the incident was a junior staff with the Delta State University, Abraka, was involved in admission racketeering and collected N155,000 from the deceased to assist her to secure admission to the university from a private university somewhere in Edo State, where she was  already running a programme.
The convict, however, could not help with the admission and, in a bid to cover up the fraud, lured the late Ijezie to his house, pretending that he wanted to refund the said amount, but, instead, murdered and secretly buried her in a shallow grave close to his house before he was caught.
“The punishment for a crime of this magnitude is death penalty. This accused does not deserve less. I hereby sentence you to death by hanging of the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon your soul,” the judge ruled. (Sources: tribune.com.ng, 31/01/2013)