Ochanya: Prosecution closes case against lecturer over alleged rape, death of schoolgirl

The Benue State Government Wednesday closed its prosecution after calling eight witnesses in the case involving a lecturer, Andrew Ogbuja, who allegedly raped and caused the death of a 13-year-old girl, Ochanya Ogbanje.

Ogbuja, a suspended lecturer at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo and his son, Victor, still at large, were accused of serially raping the deceased for five years, while she lived with them. She contracted a sexually transmitted disease, which led to her death in October 2018.

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Consequently, the state government had, on October 10, 2019, arraigned Ogbuja, a 57-year-old, before a Makurdi High Court on a four-count charge bordering on rape and murder of the late Miss Ogbanje.

When the case came up yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the state, Peter Ukande, led the eighth witness, a photojournalist in his evidence in chief.

The photojournalist, in his testimony, informed the trial judge, Justice Augustine Ityonyiman that he interviewed the deceased teenager at the premises of the court in August 2018 when Ogbuja was first arraigned at an Upper Area Court in Makurdi.

Earlier, a video cassette was played before the court, where the late Ochanya said Mr Ogbuja and his fugitive son, Victor, serially raped her until she fell ill and was admitted at the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi for two months.

But Ogbuja’s lawyer, Abel Onoja, objected to the admissibility of the videocassette as he argued that he was not properly served with a copy of the video recording while also querying the mode of service of the evidence.

After an appeal by the trial judge to both lawyers in the suit for an accelerated hearing, the defendant’s counsel withdrew his objection, paving the way for the judge to admit the piece of evidence.

The prosecuting lawyer, Ukande, therefore, closed the state government’s case against the accused.

But Ogbuja’s lawyer sought an adjournment to enable his client prepare for his defence.

Justice Ityonyiman, therefore, adjourned the case till October 8, 2021, for the defendant to commence his defence.