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A Nigerian assassin who shot dead a mother-of-nine and her sleeping nephew in a poorly planned retaliation strike has been found to have violated his human rights by a European court.

In September 2016, Obina Christopher Ezeoke, 32, broke through the unlocked front door of the family home of student Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo, 21, and his aunt Annie Ekofo, 53, and murdered them.

However, according to The Telegraph, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has now declared that Ezeoke’s human rights were violated because of the protracted delay for his case to go to trial.

The Old Bailey heard that Ezeoke carried out the retaliation when opponents, including Ms. Ekofo’s son Ryan Efey, posted video of him being attacked on Snapchat.

Ezeoke made the decision to murder everyone in the apartment, even though Mr. Efey was most likely the intended target.

After the first four trials ended in a split decision or collapsed because of outside factors, Ezeoke was ultimately found guilty on his fifth try.

When a judge had to withdraw due to excruciating back pain, the 2017 trial was halted.

Although the majority of jurors in both the May 2018 and March 2019 trials supported a conviction, the juries were unable to reach a result.

After the previous hearing collapsed owing to the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, it was learned that prosecutors made the extraordinary decision to seek a fifth trial.

Ezeoke’s defense team argued that “enough is enough” and that a fifth trial should be denied, but the prosecution ultimately won.

In September 2020, he was found guilty and given a life sentence, although the judge suggested he should spend at least 40 years in prison.

Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to “a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law,” was found to have been violated by the court due to the time lapse between his arrest and conviction.

The Strasbourg court found that the k!ller’s rights had been violated even though neither the government nor the legal system had any control over the delays in bringing Ezeoke to justice.

The court denied the court’s requests for Ezeoke’s release from prison and damages for the violation.

The ECHR’s judges determined that although the trial delays violated human rights, the judgment and sentence were just and did not violate Article 6.

“This is the latest extraordinary example of judicial activism by the Strasbourg court,” stated Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary. It appears to get worse and worse.

Bervil, a psychology student, was shot in the back of the head by Ezeoke with a vintage Western-style revolver at her apartment in East Finchley, North London. Then, using Smith and Wesson, he struck 53-year-old Annie Ekofo, the victim’s aunt, in the chest.44 when she emerged from her bedroom wearing nothing but her panties.

The court was informed that neither Annie nor Bervil were the intended targets.

Around 6.30am, Ezeoke fled the area in a Vauxhall Meriva after carrying out the k!llings as part of a “vendetta of violence.”

He insisted that at the time of the murders, he and four companions were on the North London estate of Grahame Park.

The killer claimed that particles of gunshot residue found in the getaway automobile, which evidence revealed he had purchased and insured under a fictitious name, originated from another shooting after the car had been used by others.

However, following eight days of deliberation that lasted 41 hours and 10 minutes, an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of the two murders.

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