Prison Warden acquitted over death of wife, domestic staff

A High Court in Plateau State, on Wednesday acquitted a 40-year-old prison warden, Morris Mustapha of the death of his wife, Mrs Delphine Lot and their domestic staff, Miss Nankloeloeling Daboer.

The police had informed the court that the accused committed the crime on Oct. 30, 2013 when he strangulated his wife then used a sharp object to cut the back of her neck, before killing their house help at their home located at Van, Lamingo, Jos.

It was gathered that the judge, Mrs Christine Dabup, while exonerating the accused said that the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to suggest that the accused actually committed the crime.

“There are three grounds to which the court has to rely on to convict an accused person, there has to be evidence that the victims actually died, the accused caused the death of the victims and the accused’s act caused their death.

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“In this case the prosecution failed to provide evidence on all the three that the accused gave a porous alibi.

“The accused claimed he was not in Jos on the day the victims died and the police did not investigate to prove his claims, they did not provide evidence that he was actually at the crime scene.

“It will be dangerous to convict the accused person based on mere suspicion, the prosecution could not prove beyond reasonable doubt” Dabup said.

Uncle to the deceased, Mr Linus Bentu in a statement to the police said that the couple had a troubled marriage riddled with domestic violence.

He said:

“I happened to live with them in Lamingo Village in 2012, while there they had a misunderstanding and her husband Morris beat her mercilessly where she sustained serious injuries on her face.

“I intervened in the matter and retrieved her phone from him (Morris) which he had earlier seized, I later took her to the hospital for treatment.”

Prosecuting counsel, Director of Public Prosecution, Plateau State, D. D Fomyol, while reacting to the judgement said that the judge saw so many gaps in between the evidence as they were not properly connected and there was no way a reasonable tribunal would rely on the prosecution’s evidence to get a conviction.

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