A man has been sentenced to die by hanging after he was found out to have committed a really grievous crime.
Abubakar Abdulrahaman, the killer of Ganiyu Akanbi Bello, a Kano
business tycoon, philanthropist, and Yoruba leader, has been sentenced
to death by hanging on Wednesday, by Justice Kabiru Auta of a Kano High
Court.
According to Sahara Reporters, the accused, Abubakar Abdulrahaman,
28, was found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death.
He was discharged and acquitted in another charge of armed robbery.
Mr. Abdulrahaman was accused of murdering Mr. Bello on the night of
June 5, 2014 in his residence at the Nassarawa Government Reserved Area
(GRA) opposite Kano Race Course when he stabbed the victim in the heart
with a kitchen knife.
The prosecution led by M.M. Sulaiman of the State Ministry of
Justice and assisted by the nominal complainant counsel, J.I. Macaulay
of Kehinde Olaitan Chamber, called seven witnesses and tendered several
exhibits.
The exhibits included the knife used by him to stab Mr. Bello and
the Blackberry handset of the deceased inside which he inserted his own
SIM card, which made the court indict him as part of circumstantial
evidence.
Making his last plea for the accused, his counsel from the Legal
Aid Council, Mr. Adama, urged the court to temper justice with mercy
because of his aged mother, wife and children.
The trial judge in his final verdict said that the accused deserved
no mercy having committed a capital offense by murdering a breadwinner
like Mr. Bello. Justice Auta remarked that the accused showed no remorse
throughout the trial. He returned a verdict of hanging by the neck for
the accused until pronounced dead.
Mr. Abdulrahaman broke down in tears after the verdict, which made
his mother collapse in the open court. The accused was a one-time staff
of the deceased’s hotel.
Justice Auta added that the accused has the right to appeal the court’s decision within 30 days.
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