2 to die by hanging for kidnapping in Taraba

The Chief Judge of Taraba, Justice Joel Agya, on Friday sentenced Yusufa Adamu and Adamu Abdullahi to death by hanging for kidnapping Balkisu Kambe and Maryam Musa in Gashaka Local Government Area.

Agya, while delivering the judgement in Jalingo, said the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The Judge said that the duo committed the crime in 2019.

The Prosecution Counsel, Mr Samson Gimba, had told the court that Musa was kidnapped on Sept 2, 2019, at Serti while Kambe was kidnapped at Angwan America in Baruwa on Sept. 29, 2019.

He also found them guilty of criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms and sentenced each to 10 years without an option of fine.

The Judge said that the sentence on criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms would take effect from 2019 when they were arrested and detained.

Besides, the Judge said the convicts made confessional statements about the crime and collected ransom.

He noted that one of the victims, Kambe, identified the defendants as member of the gang that abducted her in her house when they could not find her husband at Angwan America in Baruwa, on Sept. 29, 2019.

Kambe said they unmasked themselves when they took her to the bush for two days before her husband sent them N1 million ransom.

“Based on Section 3, Paragraph 8 of the Kidnapping and Abduction Law of Taraba 2019, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging. May God have mercy on your souls.

“You, however, have the right to apply to the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy for the sentence to be committed to life imprisonment, especially since no life was lost in the process of kidnapping,” the Judge said.

Gimba, in his reaction, hailed the judgement as “sound and commendable”.

Mr Mahanar Puki, Counsel to the defendants, had pleaded for mercy when the guilty verdict was pronounced before the Judge passed the sentence.

Puki had told the court that the convicts were first-time offenders and had shown remorse throughout the trial and should be shown mercy.