The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upheld the conviction of a Dane National, Peter Nielsen who was sentenced to d3ath in 2022 for k!lling his Nigerian wife, Zainab and their daughter, Petra.
The appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by Nielsen for lacking in merit.
Delivering the judgment, the appeal court held that the Respondent, the Lagos State Government proved the offence of murder against the Appellant, Nielsen, beyond reasonable doubt.
It resolved the appeal in favour of the Respondent and dismissed the appellant’s case.
The appellate court said, “The corroborative evidence of DNA also strengthened the circumstantial evidence against the Appellant.
“There was no proof of breaking into the apartment as suggested by the Appellant.”
“The missing exhibits as a result of the end SARS attack on the court does not affect the defence of the Appellant as he had ample opportunity before the attack on the Court.
The Lagos State Government had arraigned the 53-year old defendant on June 13, 2018, on a two-count charge of murder, punishable under Section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2015, which prescribes the death penalty, if convicted. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr Nielsen was said to have killed his wife, Zainab a musician who was also known as Alizee, and his daughter on April 5, 2018, at about 3.45 am at their Banana Island residence in the Ikoyi area of Lagos.
Trial judge, Justice Okikiolu-Ighile (Rtd), of the Lagos State High Court, in her judgment delivered on May 20, 2022, based her decision on the post-mortem examination of the Pathologist, Professor John Obafunwa. He had told that the bruises found on the neck of the head and neck of Zainab were consistent with blunt trauma.
That autopsy report also stated that the “tiny signs of bleeding” proved smothering as cause of death.
Smothering which caused the absence of oxygen to both deceased persons was also established as the cause of Zainab’s death which the court held that, “couldn’t have been self inflicted or due to epilepsy as that wasn’t included in her medical history.
On whether the deaths were caused by the defendant (Peter Nielsen), the court recounted several testimonies by the prosecution’s witnesses including a housemaid, Zainab’s sibling and two police officers who testified during the trial to incidents of domestic violence perpetrated by Mr Nielsen on the late musician.
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