Tobias Sylvester
A 25-year-old housemaid, Dominion Okoro, who killed her 85-year-old Madam, Maria Igbinedion, the mother of Edo state former governor, Lucky Igbinedion, has been sentenced to death by a criminal court 1 in Benin City.
Dominion Okoro Sentenced For Killing Maria Igbinedion
KanyiDaily had reported how the 85-year-old woman was killed on December 2, by her maid who ransacked her home for jewelry and money before disappearing into thin air.
Dominion was arrested by the police on December 16, in her hometown, Calabar, Cross River State, where she had fled to after committing the heinous crime.
While being paraded at Edo State Police headquarters in Benin, the housemaid narrated how she killed the octogenarian with stool and made away with N100,000, a wristwatch, and jewellery from the GRA residence of the Igbinedions.
She said: “I killed Mama (Madam Maria Igbinedion) to carry her money. She did not offend me. While she was sleeping on her bed, around 12:01 a.m. on December 2, 2021, I used a stool to hit her on the head and she was shouting for help, but only the gateman was around and he did not hear the shout. Mama later died.
“I waited till 4 a.m. on December 2, 2021, before leaving the house with Mama’s ₦100,000, wristwatch, and jewellery. I escaped to Cross River State, but I was later arrested by the police.”
“I am here because I killed somebody. Nothing happened between us. Myself and my madam never had any quarrels. I have been with my madam for one year and three months before this thing happened.”
Following her confessional statement to the police, Dominion and her sister Patience Okoro were arrested and arraigned in court.
Delivering judgment in the case on Monday, June 20, Justice Ipkonwonba convicted Dominion on all the three counts filed against her.
The court sentenced Dominion to death by hanging for murder and robbery with violence while she bagged life imprisonment for count two which was for applying harmful substances to the late Madam Igbinedion.
The convict’s sister who was charged for accessory after the facts for murder in count four was discharged and acquitted.
Meanwhile, a Nigerian girl has narrated how she escaped death by faking madness after the alleged killing of two other Nigerian housemaids in Saudi Arabia.
