A debarred lawyer Ephraim Ugwuonye was on Thursday remanded in Kuje prison by an FCT High Court sitting in Gudu over the murder of Abuja businesswoman Charity Aiyedogbon.
Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi remanded Ugwuonye following his arraignment by the Nigeria Police on a 10-count charge bordering on complicity in the murder.
The police alleged that the defendant collected money from family members, associates and friends of the deceased and distorted facts by alluding that Mrs Aiyedogbon’s husband was responsible for her death.
According to the police, Mr Ugwuonye used his social media account, code-named, “Due Process Advocate” to dish out injurious falsehood, incite the public and publish hate speeches suggesting that David Aiyedogbon killed his wife.
The defendant was also accused of impersonation, having been debarred from the legal profession as well as deliberately giving false information about the suspects that had confessed to committing the crime while in police custody.
The police alleged that he led the public to believe that the suspects were tortured and forced to confess, without justification, with the aim of misleading policemen in the cause of the investigation.
Ugwuonye, however, denied all the charges following which the prosecuting counsel Edwin Ochayi requested for a date for the police to assemble witnesses in order to prove their case.
Counsel to Ugwuonye, Ifeanyi Chukwu informed the court that he had filed a bail application on behalf of his client and that he served same on the complainant on December 13.
Justice Osho-Adebiyi adjourned the matter until January 10, 2019 for argument on the bail application.
