CYNTHIA'S MURDERES

Despite the slow pace at which justice travelled in this matter, it is good that it came after all

Understandably, the murder trial gripped public attention from the beginning to the end. Perhaps it could have been faster, and could have taken far less than the five years it took to arrive at a verdict. The crime was committed in 2012 and the suspects were arraigned in February 2013.  However, it may be said that all is well that ends well.

Two of the four men tried for the 2012 killing of Cynthia Osokogu were sentenced to death by Justice Olabisi Akinlade of the Lagos High Court on March 23. “The court has no doubt that the first and second defendants killed the deceased,” the judge said as she sentenced them to death by hanging.
Justice Akinlade found Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo, 37, and his nephew Olisaeloka Ezike, 27, guilty of drugging, chaining and strangling Cynthia to death at Cosmilla Hotel, Festac Town, Lagos, on July 22, 2012.  Cynthia, a retired general’s daughter and a combination of beauty and brains, was a graduate student at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
Justice Akinlade said: “Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State says clearly that a person who commits murder shall be sentenced to death. 

In judgment, justice is required not only for the victim, but also for the society. In their attempt to steal Cynthia’s property, the first and second defendants stole her life. They were not even remorseful. But for the efforts of the police and the Ministry of Justice we wouldn’t have been able to do anything. This court cannot change the law.”
It is reassuring that the justice system stayed on course in the pursuit of justice. It is also reassuring that the judgment highlighted and reinforced the social significance of punishment for crime.

 There is no doubt that the society must always be unambiguous in its definition of crime and punishment. In addition, the enforcement apparatus must always prove equal to the task.
The other two accused men, Orji Osita, 37, and Ezike Nonso, 29, were discharged and acquitted of the charge of recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods. Osita, a pharmacist, was accused of supplying Nwabufo with Rophynol, a sedative that was allegedly used on Cynthia, without a prescription. Nonso was accused of buying Cynthia’s stolen Blackberry phones from Ezike.
The death sentences send an important warning sign that murder is unacceptable. Apart from extreme punishment for extreme crime, there are useful lessons to be learned from Cynthia’s murder. It all started on Facebook; the trusting Cynthia fell into a trap set by social media criminals.
It may be unclear why the two convicted men went so far, too far, to the extent that they caused Cynthia’s death. But it is clear enough that they behaved like brutes. How the trial ended brought closure in the sense that it resolved fundamental questions: Who committed the crime? What should the punishment be?
Indeed, these two questions and their resolutions are at the core of the justice system, but moving from crime to trial and punishment may not be as straight and straightforward as it should be. A relevant example: political corruption cases in the country. In comparison, the systemic flaws that tend to perpetuate corruption trials were not as evident in the case of Cynthia’s murderers.
The point is that the justice apparatus must live up to its role as well as public expectations whenever crime and punishment issues come up. There is no excuse for a justice system that does not work, which means working to achieve completion, from trial to penalty and enforcement.

This is one tragic story that illustrates regrettable abuse of the social media, and the need for internet users to be wary of the friendships they enter into online.