A Nigerian man, Osa Alohaneke, faces prospects of life imprisonment after a jury found him guilty of killing his Cameroonian fiancée, Evelyne Ebane Epiepang, in the US city of Houston, Texas in 2015.
According to prosecutors, Alohaneke, 59, stabbed Epiepang, 52, and her friend, Veronica Taku, with a kitchen knife, which led to Epiepang’s death.
Alohaneke was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
While the jury convicted him of the murder charge, he was acquitted on the assault charge.
The jury in the court in Fort Bend county arrived at the guilty verdict after deliberating for 13 hours.
Alohaneke was living in a section of southwest Houston that lies in Fort Bend County at the time of the incident.
Police said he stabbed the victim, who died after dialling 911 for help, 30 times.
When police arrived the scene of the incident, prosecutors said Alohaneke’s hands up to his elbows were covered in blood and he was on the phone to an attorney.
Reports says that screams echoed in the courtroom for four minutes when prosecutors played a recording of the victim’s conversation with 911 on the day of the incident to jurors.
However, Defence Attorney Eric Ashford expressed dismay with the ‘haphazard’ investigation conducted by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office.
He also said police accepted the lone witness, Taku’s testimony without conducting a mental evaluation to determine her state of mind.
The convict is expected to be sentenced in a few days.
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