A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced Damian Okoligwe, a 400-level Petrochemical Engineering student at the University of Port Harcourt, to death by hanging for the murder of his girlfriend, Justina Otuene.
The court heard that Okoligwe killed Otuene, a 300-level Biochemistry student, on October 20, 2023, at his apartment in Mgbupba, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.
He allegedly dismembered her body and attempted to dispose of the remains using a wheelbarrow before his arrest.
Delivering the judgment on Friday, Justice Chinwe Nsirim-Nwosu, held that the prosecution successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt all three essential elements required to establish the offence of murder against the defendant.
She described Okoligwe’s actions as “intentional, calculated, coordinated, and evil” and ordered that he be “hanged on the neck until confirmed dead.”
Nsirim-Nwosu emphasized that the evidence presented before the court was consistent and free of contradictions, firmly establishing that the convict deliberately committed the crime.
According to the court, the sequence of events, the manner in which the victim was killed, dismembered, and secretly disposed of, clearly showed premeditation and a conscious effort to evade justice, thereby removing any doubt as to the defendant’s culpability.t
