A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ebute Meta, Lagos has given an order for two men, who allegedly robbed and murdered Bernadett Kurucz, wife of the Managing Director of Maersk Nigeria, Gildas Tohouo, to be remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre, pending legal advice.
Olamilekan Oke and Adeyinka Akande, both electricians, are charged with five counts bordering on conspiracy, murder, attempted murder and theft.
Chief Magistrate A.O. Komolafe, who did not take the plea of the defendants on Friday, ordered the police to return the case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions.
Earlier, the prosecutor A.A. Adegoke, counsel for the State Criminal Investigating and Intelligence Department, Panti, alleged that the men committed the offence on December 8, 2019, at about 7.30 pm, at Flat 7A, No. 2, Luggard Avenue, Ikoyi.
Mr Adegoke alleged that they conspired and robbed the couple.
The prosecutor alleged that Oke and Akande cut off electricity from the couple’s house and broke in.
He alleged that they raped Bernadett, stabbed and suffocated her to death before proceeding to stab Gildas on his neck with a knife. The Maersk boss survived the wound.
He said that they stole foreign currencies, N48,790 and two iPhones belonging to the deceased.
The alleged offences, he said, contravened the provision of sections 223, 230, 233, 260 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The case was adjourned until March 26.
Tohouo is a Cameroonian while his late wife was from Bulgaria.
Maersk Line, however, is the world’s largest container shipping company and is a subsidiary of Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate.
