Aug 19, 04:13 AM

Rashid Bynum Gets Life for 2023 Killing of New Jersey Pastor

A New Jersey Superior Court judge sentenced Rashid Ali Bynum, 31, to life in prison for the 2023 murder of Eunice Dwumfour, a Sayreville borough council member and pastor. The ruling was delivered Monday in New Brunswick, closing a high-profile case that drew national attention when Dwumfour was ambushed and shot 14 times as she sat in her SUV outside her apartment complex on Feb. 1, 2023. Prosecutors said Bynum, of Portsmouth, Virginia, had previously lived with Dwumfour and her child after the two met through the Nigerian-founded Champions Royal Assembly and its affiliated Bible-study group, Fire Congress Fellowship. Relations reportedly soured after Bynum returned to Virginia, but investigators have not disclosed a clear motive. A Middlesex County jury convicted him in June of first-degree murder and related weapons charges following a month-long trial. Bynum will be eligible for parole only after serving 85% of his term, the statutory minimum for murder in New Jersey. Defense attorney Michael Ashley said he intends to appeal, arguing the state failed to present direct evidence linking his client to the shooting.