Airman who killed girlfriend sentenced to death by hanging

Kalu Bernard, an airman, has been sentenced to death by hanging over the alleged killing of his girlfriend and colleague, Solape Oladipupo.

Bernard, 21, had shot and killed Solape when he allegedly caught her in the arms of another man at the air force base, Makurdi on March 12.

After shooting his girlfriend, Bernard was said to have been overpowered by the lover while also trying to shoot him.

M. A Umoh, judge advocate of the general court martial, in a 70-page narration of the case that lasted through the early hours of Wednesday, listed the eight-count charges as murder, failure to perform military duty, housebreaking and impersonation.

Others included loss of service property, disobedience of service order and prejudice to service discipline.

“The accused has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but the prosecution has proved its case against him beyond reasonable doubt,” he said.

In his judgement, Elisha Bindul, president of the court, who said that the accused was found guilty in six, out of the eight-count charges preferred against him, sentenced him to death by hanging.

He, however, said that the sentence was subject to the confirmation of the conveying authority.

The defense counsel, Abimiku Ewuga, had earlier prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in its sentence, especially as the accused was a first time offender and breadwinner of his family.

Speaking with journalists after the judgement, Ewuga commended the court for being thorough but said he would appeal against the sentence.

On his part, prosecution counsel, Oluremi Ilori, hailed the judgement, declaring that everybody, including the deceased, would be happy with the outcome.