Steve and Fortune Nwankwo have been sentenced to 16 years combined imprisonment for the manslaughter of their maid, Joy Adole.
An agent had taken the late teenager, an indigene of Benue State, to Lagos State for domestic work.
It was reported the incident which occurred in April 2020 at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga.
Justice Oyindamola Ogala of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, found Nwankwos guilty of conspiracy and manslaughter.
The judge delivered judgment in police suit no ID/13178C/20 against the husband and wife.
Justice Ogala held that the prosecution proved the charges of manslaughter, conspiracy and attempt to pervert justice and misconduct beyond doubt.
The judge said the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were strong and corroborated the fact that the maid died due to the beating by Fortune.
The first defendant, according to Justice Ogala, assaulted Joy which caused her death as she had not been feeling well before that day.
The court deplored that the convicts did not inform or call the family of the deceased from 5am when they found out she had died.
It was until noon that Steve called Joy’s sister to request her full name and other personal information before her embalming in the morgue.
Justice Ogala said Steve, having found out that his wife “had killed the deceased due to the beating, assisted her in perverting the course of justice by hanging the body”.
“The hanging was staged, the deceased was hanged by a rope and the position the police found her body did not depict suicide as her feet were on the floor”, she noted.
The defendants tampered with evidence when they embalmed the body, which made it difficult for the toxicologist to carry out an autopsy”, the judge added.
Fortune was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Steve bagged two years imprisonment.
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