Nigerian Lady Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Stabbing Her Fiancé To Death Over Engagement Ring

A 27-year-old woman, Blessing Edet, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for stabbing her fiancé, Edet Ebong, 33, to death. According to reports, the suspect stabbed Edet to death during a fight over her refusal to wear an engagement ring he gave her at their residence in Lagos. The convict was arraigned to court on July 5, 2017, on a lone count charge of murder before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.

During the trial, Blessing testified in her defense stating that the deceased came about 12.15 am at her residence at No. 1, Falana Street, Ogombo, Lekki, Lagos, woke her up and requested her to cook a meal for him. She said she refused to do so because she was tired. He then went into the kitchen and found the engagement ring he had given her beside the stove. She said he became angry and asked her why she was not wearing the ring.

The deceased at this point broke their mirror and used part of it to stab her as a result of which she cried out to neighbours for help. In the course of the fight that ensued between them that she stabbed Ebong in his abdomen with a kitchen knife before any of their neighbours got there. Meanwhile, the prosecution, Mr. F. Oyedale, called five witnesses including the sister to the deceased, Esther Ebong, a medical doctor and the Investigating Police Officer (IPO).

Delivering judgment in the matter on Wednesday, Justice Taiwo held that Blessing acted in self-defense. The trial judge also commuted the charge of murder against Blessing to voluntary manslaughter. Justice Taiwo held that the convict did not intend to cause grievous bodily harm to the deceased when she stabbed him in the lower part of his abdomen. She then proceeded to sentence the convict to ten years imprisonment, with effect from August 2015 when she was remanded at Kirikiri Female Prisons.