Court Set Free Man Accused Of Hiding Mum’s Remains In Wardrobe

Court Set Free Man Accused Of Hiding Mum’s Remains In Wardrobe

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A retired principal who was accused of killing his 85-year-old mother and hiding her remains in a wardrobe for 10 years, Chimezie Osigwe, was on Tuesday discharged and acquitted by an Imo State High Court in Oguta Judicial Division.

Osigwe, who was arrested in 2013 in Ejemekuru, Oguta council area of the state, after the dried body of his late mother was found in his bedroom, was left off the hook for want of evidence by the presiding Judge, Hon Justice Goddy Anunihu.

Delivering Justice in the Suit with Suit No.HOG/23C/2013, Justice Anunihu, ruled that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was responsible for the victim’s death.

He ruled that the prosecution counsel lacked evidence to prosecute the defendant who was alleged to have murdered his mother in August 2004.

“There is no proof that the accused person killed his mother, since a witness and report have said that she died as a result of the earthquake allegedly caused by activities of an oil company operating in the area.

"There is no proof of any harm or desecration on the body of her mother, neither was there any complaint from the accused siblings that the victim was murdered.

“The only fault was that the accused kept the victim for too long. But his explanation that he preserved the remains as evidence in the suit against the oil company that caused the death of his mother is rational and as a direct child of the deceased, he has more rights on the deceased than the prosecution witnesses,” the judge ruled.