Self-acclaimed Jesus and General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, popularly known as Reverend King lost the hope of holding on to life on Friday, as an Appeal Court sitting in Lagos state upheld the judgment of a Lagos High Court, which earlier convicted him and sentenced him to death by hanging for the murder of one of his church members, Ann Uzor.
The convict was charged before Justice Joseph Oyewole of the High Court on a six-count charge part of bordering on attempted murder and murder. He was first convicted and sentenced on January 11, 2007.
Justice Oyewole had found Ezeugo guilty on the first five counts of attempted murder, sentencing him to a concurrent 20-year jail term with hard labour on each of the counts and further sentencing him to death by hanging on the sixth count of murder.
After the sentence, Ezeugo, who allegedly killed Miss Uzor by pouring petrol on her and five other church members and setting them ablaze for alleged acts of fornication, had appealled the judgement through his lawyer, Mr Olalekan Ojo, on November 5, 2012 urging the court to upturn it.
In the appeal, he claimed that the burnt injuries were from a generator accident for which he could not be held responsible, saying he was in the bedroom when he heard the shouts of the victims.
Leading a unanimous judgement of three justices on the appeal, Justice Fatima Akinbami told the convict that every issue raised in his appeal amounted to nullity. The other two justices, Amina Augie and Ibrahim Saulawa consented.
According to her, the appeal is devoid of any basis and therefore fails. “The judgment of the High Court is hereby affirmed, and the conviction imposed on the appellant is also affirmed,” she delivered, adding that the appellate court did its job painstakingly and meticulously.
While affirming that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and faulting claims by Mr. Ojo that the self-acclaimed son of God was not present at the scene when the deceased caught fire, she said evidence before the court showed that the appellant actually used matches and petrol to set the deceased ablaze.
In the judgement that lasted two hours, she recalled that each of the prosecution witnesses during the hearing of the case gave evidence of how the victim was beaten and burnt by the appellant, adding that there was no contradiction whatsoever and even if there were, they were immaterial since all the witnesses were unanimous. She said further that the evidence of some doctors who handled the deceased’s case further proved that the deceased died as a result of the burns.
Condemning pastors who take their congregation for a ride, by such actions as the one that resulted to Miss Uzor’s death in bizarre circumstances, she lamented that “some men of God will give out to their congregation scorpion instead of fish, and stone instead of bread.”
Rev. King was arrested after he set six members of his church on fire over allegations of misconduct, including fornication on July 22, 2006. He had asked them to kneel down and ordered that petrol be poured on them before he struck the match. The names of the victims were given as Chiejina Olise, Chizoba Onuorah, Vivian Ezeocha, Jessica Nwene, Kosisochukwu Ezenwankwo and Ann Uzor.
While counsel to Ezeugo hinted that he would proceed to the Supreme Court, Olabisi Ogungbesan, the prosecution counsel and director of public prosecution, Lagos state, said that it was a lesson to other religious leaders who go about abusing their followers. She said there was no miscarriage of justice by the trial court and all the grounds of appeal were found to be misconceived.
“We are very pleased,” she said. “Justice has been done today typical of our appellate courts in this country.”
