A man at Letterkenny District Court was charged yesterday with withholding information in relation to the murder of a Malawian woman in Kilkenny two years ago.
Chijioke Ezekwem (26), a native of Nigeria, was before the court charged with failing to disclose information which was believed to be of assistance in securing a prosecution for the murder of Paiche Onyemaechi (25).
Her badly-decomposed body was found on a riverbank in Piltown, Co Kilkenny, on July 23rd, 2004. It was wrapped in black plastic bags and had been there for a number of weeks. Gardaí confirmed at the time that the dead woman died a very violent death. Her head was detached from her body and there were a number of other marks on her.
She was the daughter of the Malawian chief justice, Mr Leonard Unyolo. Gardaí believe her murder took place on a date unknown between July 8th and 23rd of that year.
Sgt Daniel O'Riordan told the court that Ezekwem was brought to Letterkenny Garda station yesterday morning. When he was charged, he replied: "Why me?" He gave an address at Clachan Mor, Windyhall, Letterkenny.
Mr Ezekwem refused local legal representation, saying that he was unable to contact his solicitor in Dublin. Judge Derek McVeigh appointed a local solicitor, Mr Kieran Dillon, to represent the defendant and put the case back to the afternoon for hearing.
When the court resumed in the afternoon, Mr Dillon told the court that he had spoken to Mr Ezekwem's solicitor, who was representing him in an immigration case. Mr Dillon said Ezekwem would be making an application for bail. He said Ezekwem was the father of a young child and had been living in Donegal since 2003. He had been signing on in Letterkenny Garda station for the past two months. He added that Ezekwem had no passport, was not a flight risk and would be fully contesting the charge.
Objecting to bail, Insp Cunningham told the court that Ezekwem was subject to a deportation case and he was facing a very serious charge. He disagreed that Ezekwem had been signing on for two months, saying he had only been signing for less than a month.
Judge McVeigh signalled that he would remand Ezekwem on bail on his own personal bond of €100. However, Insp Cunningham asked that an independent surety be made available to the court.