Cook jailed 14 years for killing 8-year-old brother over meat

An Igbosere High Court in Lagos, Monday, sentenced a cook, Janet James, to 14 years in prison for beating her eight-year-old brother, Saviour, to death for stealing meat from a pot of soup.

Justice Adedayo Akintoye convicted Janet, 34, following her plea of guilty to an amended one-count charge of manslaughter.

Akintoye said the sentence would take effect from Aug. 21, 2009, when Janet was first arraigned and remanded by a magistrate court.

Akintoye in her judgment noted that the case was transferred to the high court in 2013 but on Monday, April 8, the defendant entered a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution.

She said the defendant, however, changed her plea to a plea of guilty to the amended charge of manslaughter.

She said: “The sentence and plea bargain agreement states that the defendant has shown remorse for the offence of manslaughter committed on August 10, 2009, against the person of one Saviour.

“The term of imprisonment is to run from the date of remand, which is August 21st 2009. This is the judgment of the court,” the judge ruled.

Janet was re-arraigned at the high court in 2013, on a one-count charge of murder where she pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecution counsel, Mrs Abiola Gbadamosi, told the court that Janet committed the offence at 8pm, on August 10, 2009, in the Ilupeju area of Lagos State.

Gbadamosi said the convict killed Saviour by beating him with a turning stick after accusing him of stealing meat from a pot of soup. She then dumped his body in the premises of an insurance company in Ilupeju.