An Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court, Lagos State, on Wednesday remanded a 22-year-old domestic servant, Joseph Ogbu, who allegedly killed his employer and her mother, two days after he was employed.
The Magistrate, Miss O.A. Olagbende, ordered that Ogbu should be kept in the Ikoyi Prison.
The court did not take the plea of the defendant as the magistrate said she needed advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Olagbende ordered that the defendant should remain behind bars for the next 30 days pending the advice.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, ASP Clara Adegbayi, told the court that the accused committed the offences on June 19, at 10.00p.m., at No. 4, Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos.
Adegbayi alleged that the defendant used a sharp object to stab his employer, 36-year-old Oreoluwa John, to death and stranguled her 89-year-old mother, Mrs Adejoke John, to death.
She also said that the defendant stole his employer’s Toyota Camry, Gionee, Itel and Nokia phones, a power bank, a pair of scissors, two cutlasses, an LG Plasma television set and a handbag containing clothes and towels.
“An argument had ensued between the deceased and the defendant when she told him to clean the house. In the course of the argument, Ogbu stabbed his employer to death and also killed her mother.
“After the deaths, Ogbu loaded the car with the stolen valuables, but he was apprehended at Ogunlana pin-down point at Surulere, Lagos, while attempting to escape,” the prosecutor said.
She noted that murder contravenes Sections 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, while stealing offends Section 287 of the law.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that murder is punished with death sentence, while stealing attracts three years’ imprisonment.
The case was adjourned until July 30 for mention. (NAN)