Former Super Eagles defender Godwin Okpara has been arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate Court over alleged battering of his wife of 25 years, Linda Okpara.
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The pair had spent years behind bar in France where Godwin played for RC Strasbourg and Paris SG. In 2007, he was jailed for 10 years for raping his 13-year-old adopted daughter while she was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for torturing the same girl.
Now, on Thursday, the former Golden Eaglet star was arraigned on one count of wife battery contrary to Section 173 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police S. Imhonwa, told the magistrate, Mrs. B.O Osunsanmi, on many occasions he caused Linda bodily injury through battering.
According to Imhonwa, sometime in August last year he assaulted her by flogging her with a stick at their Ikeja GRA residence.
Godwin, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge, and was granted bail by the magistrate in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum following a plea by his lawyer, Malaki Odo.
The magistrate adjourned till January next year for further hearing.
