A 27-year-old woman in Abuja was on Thursday handed a 10-year jail term for stabbing her neighbour, Salamatu Yinusa, to death.
The convict, Immaculate Chukwudi, a mother of three, was sentenced by a High Court in Abuja after being found guilty of causing Yinusa’s death.
The FCT Commissioner of Police charged Chukwudi with culpable homicide.
Delivering judgment, Justice Idris Mohammed held that Chukwudi caused the death of Yunusa.
The judge cited the provisions of Section 225 of the Penal Code, which states that “whoever causes the death of a person by doing an act not amounting to culpable homicide but done with the intention of causing hurt or grievous hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years or with fine or with both.”
Mohammed subsequently sentenced Chukwudi to 10 years imprisonment.
Earlier, defence counsel, O. Oluwakemi, told the court that the convict had no past criminal record and was a young woman with prospects of rehabilitation.
Oluwakemi added that Chukwudi is a mother of three young children who depend on her for survival and care, and urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
The judge, however, sentenced the convict to 10 years imprisonment, to run from the date of her arraignment in May 2024.
According to the prosecution counsel, Adama Musa, Chukwudi caused the death of her 18-year-old neighbour, Yinusa, by stabbing her in the chest with a knife.
Musa said the act resulted in severe bodily injury, which eventually led to Yinusa’s death on March 12, 2024, in Kubwa, Abuja.
He added that Chukwudi acted with the knowledge that death was a probable consequence of her action.
The offence, he said, contravenes Section 220(a)(b) of the Penal Code Law and is punishable under Section 221 of the same law.
In her defence, Chukwudi told the court that the deceased and her siblings, who were her friends, had attacked her in her house while she was preparing food for her son.
She said they beat her, and she acted in self-defence.
She pleaded for leniency, stating that she fell ill while in custody and required proper medical care.