False Kidnapping Allegation: Court Jails Mother & Daughter in Anambra

A Magistrate Court sitting in Nnewi, Anambra State, has sentenced a woman, Agnes Izuegbunam, and her daughter, Chiamaka, to six and two months in prison respectively for giving the police in the area false information on an alleged kidnap matter.

They were sentenced for accusing one Mr. Bethran Onwunzo of attempting to kidnap Bennet Izuegbunam, who is the father of Chiamaka and husband to Agnes.

Agnes Izuegbunam is a primary school teacher, whereas her 30-year-old daughter is a school leaver.

Handing down the judgement, the Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. O.N. Erinne, said the accused were guilty of two counts of “Conspiracy and giving false information to the police against Onwunzo.”

The Magistrate acquitted Bennet Izuegbunam, a security guard at the Magistrate Court, who was also charged along with his daughter and wife for the same offence.

But the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Emenike Azubuike, said he would appeal the discharge and acquittal of Bennet, describing it as a miscarriage of justice.

Azubuike insisted that it was wrong for the court to hold that Bennet only made a report against Onwunzo based on information given to him by his daughter, Chiamaka, and so might not have known that his daughter was lying.

Chiamaka and her mother, Agnes were said to have reported to the police in Nnewi that Onwunzo came to their house at night, sometime in 2009, accompanied by six men on a mission to kidnap Bennet.

They told the police that Onwunzo and his men failed in their mission because Bennet had left for his duty post when Onwunzo and his men came.

Based on this information, the police went after Onwunzo, only to discover later that by the time of the allegation, Onwunzo with his family members was holidaying in Paris, France.

But before the discovery of this new fact, Onwunzo was arrested by the police when he returned to Nnewi from Paris based on the earlier information.

Upon investigation, the police discovered that Onwunzo was nowhere in Nigeria at the time of the allegation.

Following the twist, the police arrested Benneth, his wife, Agnes and daughter, Chiamaka, and charged them for conspiracy and false information against Onwunzo, a charge the Court upheld and sentenced mother and daughter accordingly.

Source: PUNCH