An Ekiti State High Court in Ado Ekiti ordered that she be detained as a criminal lunatic after she was accused of stabbing her husband because she believed he was unceasingly having extramarital affairs.
The charge sheet read “that Janet Jegede (36) on 17th November, 2019 at Ado Ekiti within the jurisdiction of this honorable court, did murder one Jegede Kayode,(Her husband) contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.”
In a statement provided to the authorities, the stepson Jegede Ayomide stated;
“I received a call from my stepmother informing me to come home to take my father to the hospital. When I got home, I met my father in the pool of his own blood, gasping for breath. I saw a knife hung in his chest. I asked her what happened, but her explanation was incoherent.
When I removed the knife, the bleeding increased. I went outside to call other neighbours to help me take him to the hospital. He was rushed to Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH) where he was confirmed dead on arrival.
My step mother once asked me to warn my father to stop cheating on her. She threatened to kill him. I took it as an empty threat until she killed my father.”
Olowoyo-Richard Ayobami, the prosecution, summoned five witnesses and produced statements from the defendant, a knife, pictures of the deceased’s lifeless corpse, and witness statements as evidence.
The defendant’s attorney, Emmanuel Adedeji, pleaded with the court to release and acquit the defendant on the grounds of lunacy, claiming that the defendant was psychologically unstable at the time of the incident.
According to Justice Bamidele Omotoso;
“It is settled that where a plea of insanity succeeds, the defendant will be ordered to be confined in a prescribed place to await further order of the appropriate authority.
I hereby order that the defendant, Janet Jegede, be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic at Correctional Services Centre, off Afao Road, Ado Ekiti until the governor’s pleasure be known in line with Section 223 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2011.”
