A Nigerian man convicted of a brutal double murder in north London has successfully argued that his human rights were violated due to the excessive delay in bringing his case to trial.
A Nigerian double murderer serving 40 years in the UK has won a human rights case after the European Court ruled his five-trial, five-year legal battle violated his right to a timely hearing. Obina Ezeoke, 32, was convicted in 2020 for the 2016 execution-style killings of student Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo, 21, and his aunt Annie Ekofo, 53, in their London flat.
The ECHR found the delays – caused by judge illness, hung juries and COVID – breached Article 6, though it rejected Ezeoke’s release request. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick condemned the ruling as “judicial activism.” Mrs Justice Cutts had called the revenge murders “cold, callous and brutal,” noting Ezeoke “ruined many lives.”