Wife accused of murder claims insanity in Ekiti State High Court

An Ekiti State High Court on Thursday ordered that Janet Jegede, a 36-year-old woman who claimed insanity, be detained in custody as a criminal lunatic for stabbing her husband, Kayode, to death.

Jegede had been arraigned before Justice Bamidele Omotoso on September 16, 2020, on one count of murder, as she was accused of killing her husband on November 17, 2019, in Ado Ekiti.

The charge stated that Jegede “did murder one Kayode Jegede (her husband) contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.”

Her stepson, Ayomide, had reported to the police that he received a call from his stepmother asking him to come home to take his father to the hospital because she had killed him.

According to him, when he arrived, he found his father in a pool of blood, with a knife hanging from his chest and Jegede’s explanation was incoherent. When he removed the knife, the bleeding increased and he called for neighbours to help take his father to the hospital, but Kayode was confirmed dead on arrival.

Ayomide also shared that his stepmother had once reported his father to him, asking him to warn him to stop infidelity.

“She had threatened to kill him if he refused to stop, but I took it as an empty threat until she killed my father”, he said.

The prosecutor, Abayomi Olowoyo-Richard, called five witnesses and submitted the defendant’s statements, a knife, photographs of the deceased’s corpse, and witness statements as exhibits.

Jegede’s counsel, Emmanuel Adedeji, argued that she was mentally imbalanced at the time of the incident and urged the court to discharge and acquit her on the grounds of insanity.

Justice Omotoso ruled that “where a plea of insanity succeeds, the defendant will be ordered to be confined in a prescribed place to await further orders of the appropriate authority.”

He ordered that Jegede be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic at a correctional services center off Afao Road, Ado Ekiti, until the governor’s pleasure be known in line with Section 223 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2011.

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