Court Dismisses Late Osinachi’s Husband No-Case Submission

Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of the late gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, had his no-case submission rejected by Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Wuse Zone 2.

VerseNews reports that Justice Nwosu-Iheme declared in her ruling that the prosecution has proven its case against the defendant.

In relation to Osinachi’s passing, the Federal Government had charged Nwachukwu on 23 counts.

Following the defendant’s admission of innocence, the judge mandated that he be held at the Kuje correctional facility pending additional proceedings.

The trial, which began on June 20, 2022, and ended on March 10, 2023, had seventeen witnesses testify for the prosecution.

On April 8, 2022, Mrs. Osinachi passed away. Initially, throat cancer was believed to be the cause of death. However, her relatives and friends asserted that her death was related to an assault by her husband, who was later detained.

An autopsy conducted by the National Hospital in Abuja later concluded that the deceased bore no signs of violence.

The report listed the cause of Osinachi’s death to include “generalised organ pallor; bilateral leg swelling; fluid in the sac containing the heart; tumour deposits in and on the heart, lungs, kidneys; massively enlarged heart and fluid around the lungs which restrict breathing”.

Counsel for Mr. Nwachukwu I. And A. Aliyu then filed a no-case submission, ostensibly stating that Nwachukwu had nothing to respond to.

Aliyu claimed that the medical professionals’ evidence cleared Nwachukwu of the charges of culpable homicide and domestic violence.

He said the autopsy report confirmed that Osinachi died “solely as a result of outgrowth tumors, which resulted in cardiac tamponade, the primary cause of death and abnormal growth of tissue (cancer) which is the secondary cause of death”.

He begged the judge to clear his client of all charges and discharge him.

The defendant was mandated to present his defense when the court rejected the no-case submission.