The Lagos State Government has concluded its evidence in the ongoing trial of Danish citizen, Peter Nielsen, who is standing trial before Justice Okikiolu Ighile in Igbosere Division of Lagos High Court.
Neilsen is being prosecuted by the state for allegedly murdering his wife, Zainab, and their three-year-old daughter, Petra.
At the resumed hearing on September 20, 2019, the prosecution led by Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, concluded their case.
The defendant’s team led by Mr Olasupo Shasore (SAN) had taken the last prosecution witness, Dr Idem Somiari, on a train of cross-extermination.
The state’s ninth witness was examined and cross-examined for over three days.
Dr Somiari under cross-extermination by Shasore on Friday stated that the defendant’s DNA was found in the apartment and on the nightie of his deceased wife.
He testified further that the defendant’s DNA was not found anywhere on the body of his deceased daughter, nor in the kitchen where the bodies of both victims were discovered.
The expert however, stated that he found the DNA of an unknown female in the kitchen.
When confronted that the crime scene investigation and forensic DNA analysis was deliberately aimed at gathering evidence and arriving at results showing that the defendant was guilty of the murder, Dr Somiari denied it.
Dr Somiari was also unable to account for the number of people that had access to the crime scene in the period between the discovery of the bodies and the examination of the crime scene by forensic experts.
The prosecution witness also informed the court that samples for DNA analysis were only taken from three occupants of the apartment; the defendant and the two deceased persons even though six people lived in the apartment at the time of the murder.
The prosecution has now closed its case and the court has adjourned the matter until October 25, 2019 for continuation of trial.
It is expected that the defence would open its case on that day.
