An Osun State High Court sitting in Iwo has sentenced five men who kidnapped the wife of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaja Muibat Salaam, to 27 years in prison.
Justice Moshood Adeigbe while delivering the judgment held that the prosecutors had been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the kidnappers met and conspired before they kidnapped their victim.
The five persons convicted by the court are: Chukwudi Okereke (40); Ogbole Ochijile Elijah (25); Lucky Okonkwo (33); Kaikine Mahah (35); and Philip Nwadinnor (30).
The judge ruled that each of the five convicts would spend seven years in prison for the charge of conspiracy; he sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment for the count of kidnapping; and 10 years for the charge of unlawful possession of firearms. He ruled that the jail terms would run concurrently since the charges arose from the same crime.
The Speaker’s wife was kidnapped in Ejigbo, Osun State on October 9, 2012 by men armed with guns while she was returning home from work.
The judge said, “The confessional statements were clear that the accused persons met at Royal Hotel in Agbor, Delta State where they planned the kidnap, perfected it in Lagos and carried it out in Ejigbo.
“The exhibits also showed that the five accused persons kidnapped the PW2 (Mrs. Salaam), forced her into a trailer and dragged her into the bush on their way to Lagos before men of the Ogun State Police Command arrested them. I hold that the prosecution have established their case and therefore found the five accused persons guilty of conspiracy, kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.”
The prosecution team led by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adewale Afolabi, told the court that the convicts had confessed to the kidnapping in the confessional statements each of them gave to the police during investigation.
However, the defence counsel, Messrs. Sam George and Fredrick Komolafe had urged the judge to temper justice with mercy because the accused persons were married men with children.
But Justice Adeigbe ruled that the kidnappers deserved the full punishment of the law because kidnapping was a heartless and condemnable offence.
The defence counsel vowed to appeal the judgment, saying the confessional statements were not tested. They said that the best thing was to have ordered a trial within trial to be able to authenticate the statements. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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