MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER KILLING HIS WIFE WHO ALLEGEDLY INFECTED HIM WITH HIV/AIDS

A High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos has sentenced one Katungi Phillips to death for stabbing his wife, Justina James, to death for allegedly infecting him with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

During court sitting today, Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, sentenced Phillips after finding him guilty of murder.

“The prosecution was able to prove by cogent circumstantial evidence that the defendant intended to kill the deceased.

“I hereby find the defendant guilty of the murder of Justina James.

“In view of the mandatory sentence for murder in Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011, the defendant, Katungi Phillips is hereby sentenced to death, may the Lord have mercy on his soul,” Adebiyi said.

In her judgment, the judge also rejected Phillips defence of provocation.

Adebiyi said that the multiple stab wounds inflicted on Justina by Phillips were excessive in comparison to the single stab wound the convict sustained.

She said that based on the evidence before her, the defence of provocation was not plausible and that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt

According to the prosecution led by Mrs. O. R Ahmed-Muili, the convict committed the offence at 3.21 a.m. on July 26, 2014, at his residence at Pako House, Oniru, Lagos.

Ahmed-Muili said that the convict, who had been married to Justina for two-years, stabbed her with a kitchen knife after discovering that she had allegedly infected him with HIV.

“After discovering that she had allegedly infected him with the virus, the deceased threatened to leave him for another man.

“He stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife during the ensuing argument and he also attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the abdomen with the knife,” she said.