Magistrate Dies In Enugu Prison

According to a report by Daily Sun, a magistrate in Enugu State ju­diciary, Mrs If­eoma Nneji, who was remanded at the Enu­gu Prisons collapsed and died in the early hours of yesterday inside her cell.

A dependable source confirmed that the magistrate died of complications arising from shock, adding that the deceased had been complaining of pains since she was brought into the prison even though close medical examinations showed that she was okay.

Consequently, the medical personnel had been counselling her that being in prison was not the end of the world.

“The situation was bad in the early hours of Wednesday. In fact, she collapsed at about 2:20am and all medical personnel were alerted and they all rushed to the prison yard. It was a sad moment and the entire staff have been mourning.”

The late magistrate was remanded in Enugu prison alongside her husband on Monday after they were arraigned for alleged conspiracy, false information and attempted murder.

The magistrate served at Oji River Magisterial District until she was recently suspended by the State Judicial Service Commission on account of her involvement in the alleged abduction of a nine-year-old girl.

Sources said she took ill about 24 hours after she arrived the prison following her remand by an Enugu Magistrate Court for alleg­edly assaulting a female tenant residing in her husband’s house.

Mrs Nneji, her husband, Ifeanyi and an unnamed per­son living with them were alleged to have beaten and injured the tenant over an undisclosed squabble which resulted in the arraignment and remand of the couple.

Controller of Enugu Pris­ons, Mr. Alloy Uchenna, confirmed the death of the magistrate but said the Deputy Controller in-charge of the prison was yet to brief him on the details of what trans­pired.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, said Mrs Nneji and her husband were re-arraigned for another case of conspiracy, false information and at­tempted murder on Monday and were subsequently remanded in prison.

“They were remanded in Enugu prison custody where she died yesterday. The matter for which they were charged commenced from Abakpa Division and was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) from where they were arraigned on Monday and the court remanded them in prison. We heard the magistrate died on Tuesday but the cause of her death is not yet known,” the police spokesman said.

The remains of the mag­istrate had been deposited at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu.