A Nigerian High Court sitting in Malumfashi, in the northern state of Katsina sentenced one Aminu Ibrahim of Rogo Local Government in Kano State to death by hanging, for armed robbery.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convict, on hearing the verdict, immediately attempted to commit suicide in the court’s cell room using an iron bar.
He was, however, overpowered by prison warders who struggled with him for minutes before pinning him down and dragging him into a waiting vehicle.
Illustration: The hangman
Ibrahim was convicted and sentenced Friday by Justice Abbas Bawale for armed robbery, an offence contrary to section 1,(2) CAP. R.11 of Robbery and Firearms Act, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The charge was filed on Oct. 13, 2011, while the offence was committed in Sept. 2011 on Kafur-Malumfashi road, where victims were robbed of their valuables.
In his Judgement, Bawale held that the prosecution had succeeded in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt.
He said that the court was satisfied with the testimonies of the five witnesses, including some of the robbery victims and the investigating police officers, presented by the prosecution counsel, Mr Aminu Garba.
Garba had also tendered five exhibits including a locally made gun, used fillets and a stick, all used during the commission of the crime and which were admitted by the court.
The judge said the witnesses had established before the court that Ibrahim was arrested at the scene of the crime during which one of his accomplices was shot dead while others escaped.
The court, therefore, dismissed efforts to discountenance the testimonies of witnesses by the defence counsel, Mr A.I. Radda, and sentenced the convict to death by hanging.
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