NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

By Masterweb News Desk Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 23-year-old Nigerian U.S. sailor has been handed life imprisonment in Japan for the robbery and murder of a taxi driver last year. Japan Yokohama District Court convicted Ugbogu of fatally stabbing 61-year-old Masaaki Takahashi in the neck in the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Yokosuka on March 19, 2008. Ugbogu according to reports, decided not to pay his taxi fare of 19,000 yen, and in addition robbed and stabbed the taxi driver to death. Ugbogu at the time of the incident was a crew member of the 9,600-ton guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens. He had deserted from the U.S. Navy earlier the same month. He pleaded not guilty and testified at his trial "voices" ordered him to kill the cabbie. His lawyers argued their client's unstable mental health punctuated by the imaginary voices which climaxed on the fateful day ordering him to kill, led to his unruly terminal action. The lawyers to buttress their argument of insanity, told the court Ugbogu fled the crime scene without stealing anything from the victim. Presiding Judge Masaaki Kawaguchi disagreed with defense ruling the defendant mentally competent, after a court-commissioned psychiatric test indicated he could be held responsible for his actions.