Posted by By TONY OSAUZO, Benin on
Three men from the same mother are now waiting for the hangman at Oko prison, in Edo State after they were sentenced to death for murder by a Benin High Court.
Three men from the same mother are now waiting for the hangman at Oko prison, in Edo State after they were sentenced to death for murder by a Benin High Court.
The eldest among the convicts, Monday Ogun, is a father of four and he had spent 12 years in prison with his brothers, Anthony and Federal, while waiting for trial.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding their plight, the 73-year-old mother of the convicts told Daily Sun that Anthony, who was mentally sick, had killed a neighbour's son called Sule while they were fighting, adding that the other two children were not involved in the fight.
Mrs Ogun said the trouble started when Anthony called Sule's mother a prostitute and the boy engaged him in a fight, allegedly breaking a bottle on Anthony's head.
Fighting back, Anthony struck him with a wood and Sule was eventually rushed to a hospital where he died.
Mrs Ogun said her son had had a mental problem that had been receiving medical attention for over four years at a Psychiatric hospital in Benin, adding that the eldest one, who is a carpenter was not at home when the fight was on. He was initially granted bail for eight months before he was rearrested and charged along with his brothers.
The septuagenarian also said that her husband died as a result of the trouble that his son brought home.
As if her children's death sentence was not enough headache for Mrs Ogun, her stepson has now driven her out of her matrimonial home. She said the boy has also seized her belongings.
But the woman's plight has touched the heart of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) known as One Love Foundation International.
Co-ordinator of the group, Miss Juniper Stella Musa, told Daily Sun that lawyers have been engaged to take the case to the Court of Appeal in Benin.
The NGO has also sponsored an appeal against the death sentence passed on one Patience Ayo, a mother of three, who allegedly mistakenly killed her five-year-old son as she engaged her husband in a fight and threw a cutlass that missed its target.