Pretty Lawyer Killed By Lagos Chef ...says it's a mistake

Desperation make some do unimaginable things, and should be tamed by anyone going through a rough phase before it's too late.

After a fairly long trial, Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday sentenced a 23-year-old chef, Joshua Usulor, to 28 years’ imprisonment for killing a 34-year-old lawyer, Mrs Feyisayo Obot.

The chef killed the lawyer on Jan. 26, 2019, at the Citiheights Hotel, Opebi, Lagos, where both of them lodged in different rooms.

Usulor murdered Obot, an Abuja-based mother of two, by slitting her throat while robbing her in her hotel room.

NAN reports that Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo sentenced Usulor after he approached the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) for a plea bargain agreement in which he would plead guilty to the crime.

The DPP had in the agreement, approved a term of 21 years’ imprisonment which would begin from the date of Usulor’s remand.

However, during Tuesday’s proceedings, the judge rejected the proposed prison term, saying that it was too lenient. She said she would exercise the power conferred on her by Section 75 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law to increase the prison term to 30 years.

She eventually reduced Usulor’s prison sentence to 28 years, following allocutus (plea for leniency) by his counsel, Mr Spurgeon Ataene.

In the allocutus, Ataene told the court to temper justice with mercy.

He submitted that Usulor was remorseful, adding that he was a young man with a promising future.

While sentencing Usulor, Taiwo asked why he killed the lawyer.

"It was a mistake, I didn’t know what got into me,” he responded.

“Your mistake has cost someone her life,” the judge said.

NAN reports that the prosecution led by Mrs O.A. Bajulaiye-Bishi had said that Usulor, a resident of No. 30, Fadiya St., Ketu, Lagos, went into Obot’s hotel room to rob her in order to offset his outstanding hotel bills.