The second wife of a former secretary to Ebonyi State Government, Mrs. Joy Mbam, on Friday, slumped in court while being arraigned for forgery and murder.
The accused was arraigned in a magistrate court sitting Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state, for allegedly forging the late husband’s will with intent to confiscate properties.
Recall that the former, SSG, Chief Fidelis Ovuoba Mbam died on 23rd April, 2018, and her second wife Joy was accused by children of her co-wife of causing the death of their father.
Joy was accused of forging documents by the second son of the co-wife, Mr. Morris Mbam to claim the deceased property alone. Morris’s mother is late.
It was gathered that Joy slumped in court while trying to enter dock during the arraignment.
She had stepped into the dock but fell from the back and hit her head on the ground.
The situation made the Chief Magistrate, Chinedu Agama to end the court session abruptly, while lawyers, policemen, some journalists and sympathizers that were in the court, rushed and carried her up after she laid on the ground for about 15 minutes.
The Court later reconvened and she was arraigned on two count charges bothering on murder and forgery.
The offence is punishable under section 316 of the criminal code laws of Ebonyi state.
The Defense Council, Nwakpu Nwode, however, raised an objection on count one which bordered on murder.
He averred that the section 316 which he was charged with provides for definition of murder and did not proffer punishment.
“We are opposed to the strength of the section 316 to infer murder generally. The same section 316 has no punishment provision. We pray your worship to discountenance the section 316 and strike the charge out”, he said.
But the prosecution Counsel, Innocent Agoye disagreed, arguing that the section provided punishment.
In his ruling, the Chief magistrate, Chinedu Agama agreed with the defence counsel that the said section was ambiguous and accordingly struck out the first count charge.
Thereafter, the second count charge was read to the defendant after which she pleaded not guilty.
The defense council applied for bail, urging the court to grant her bail on lenient terms. The prosecuting council did not oppose the bail application.
The Magistrate granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety in like terms. The matter was adjourned to 18th of February for further hearing.
