A Delta State High Court sitting in the Kwale Judicial Division has sentenced a son and his accomplice to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of a mother.

They are 44-year-old Lucky Edozien and his accomplice, 33-year-old Amaechi Enuebuka.

The woman, Edozien’s mother, Mrs. Janeth Odinuwe, was accused of witchcraft.

The case, HCK/54C/2023 – State vs. Lucky Edozien & Amaechi Enuebuka, concluded on March 25, 2026, with the court convicting both defendants and sentencing them to death by hanging.

Justice D.C. Maidoh delivered the judgment after finding the defendants guilty of killing the 70-year-old woman at her home in Umudike Quarters, Ossissa, Ndokwa West Local Government Area, on April 13, 2023.

The court held that their actions violated Section 319 of the Criminal Code Law (Cap C21, Vol. 1, Laws of Delta State, 2006).

Edozien allegedly claimed he believed a ring worn by his mother was responsible for the hardships he was facing.

The court heard that Edozien promised Enuebuka musical instruments in exchange for distracting the deceased’s sister, Mrs. Paulinah Okonji, by pretending to negotiate the purchase of scrap metal located behind the house.

The plan allegedly allowed Edozien to enter his mother’s room unchallenged, where he strangled her to death.

According to the prosecution, led by Assistant Director of the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Catherine Onoberhie-Oberuomo, Edozien conspired with Enuebuka, a motorcyclist and part-time DJ, to murder his mother.

Despite the absence of an eyewitness and the refusal of Mrs. Okonji to testify, the prosecution relied on the “Doctrine of Last Seen” and police investigative testimonies to establish the guilt of both men.