Rita Odafe
Janet Jegede, a 36-year-old woman, is currently standing trial at an Ekiti state High court for allegedly stabbing her husband, Kayode Jegede, to death. On September 16, 2020, she was arraigned before Justice Bamidele Omotoso on one count of murder. According to the charge sheet, Janet had killed her husband on November 17, 2019 in Ado Ekiti. Her stepson, Ayomide, gave a statement to the police saying that Janet had previously threatened to kill her husband due to his infidelity. On the day of the incident, Ayomide received a call from his stepmother asking him to come home and take his father to the hospital because she had killed him. When Ayomide arrived home he found his father in a pool of blood with a knife stuck in his chest. Five witnesses were presented by the prosecutor, Abayomi Olowoyo-Richard, and statements of the defendant, a knife, photographs of the corpse of the deceased, and statements of the witnesses were tendered as exhibits.
Janet’s lawyer, Emmanuel Adedeji, argued that she was mentally imbalanced at the time of the incident and asked the court to discharge and acquit her on the grounds of insanity. In response, Justice Omotoso ruled that Janet should be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic at a correctional services centre until the governor’s pleasure be known in line with Section 223 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2011.
