Ayodele Olalere
A cook, Janet James, has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Lagos High Court, sitting in Igbosere, presided by Justice Adedayo Akintoye.
The accused was jailed for beating her eight-year-old brother, Saviour Effiong James, to death for stealing meat from a pot of soup. The incident happened on August 10, 2009.
Janet, 34, was convicted following her plea of guilty to an amended one-count charge of manslaughter.
The judge said the 14-year imprisonment will take effect from August 21, 2009 when the convict was remanded by a magistrates’ court.
Justice Akintoye noted that the defendant entered a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution last Monday at the high court, where the case was transferred to in 2013, and that she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of manslaughter.
James was re-arraigned before the judge in 2013 on a one-count charge of murder contrary to Section 317 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003. She pleaded not guilty to the charge.
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Prosecution Counsel, Mrs. Abiola Gbadamosi, told the court that the convict committed the offence at about 8pm on August 10, 2009 in the Ilupeju area of Lagos State
Gbadamosi said the convict killed Saviour by beating him with a turning stick after accusing him of stealing meat from a pot of soup. She then dumped his body in the premises of an insurance company in Ilupeju.
In her confessional statement to the police, James said: “I carried him (the deceased) on my back and walked a long distance before throwing him across the fence. I decided to dump him there because the offices had long been closed.
“He used to steal. I even warned him when I went to the village to pick him. I beat him on Monday night at about 8pm, after several warnings not to steal meat from the pot failed. I hit him with this little pestle. But he did not die on the spot. At about 11pm, he woke up to urinate.
“But when I woke up at about 2am, I discovered he was foaming at the mouth. I called him but there was no response. I tried opening his mouth and even hit him, yet there was no movement.
“Then I waited until about 5am before carrying him on my back and dumped him inside the premises of insurance firm and returned home.”
