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, Mr. 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.



Source: Sun