Taraba State’s Chief Judge, Justice Joel Agya, has handed down a death sentence by hanging to Yusufa Adamu and Adamu Abdullahi for their involvement in the kidnapping of Balkisu Kambe and Maryam Musa in Gashaka Local Government Area.
Justice Agya, delivering the judgment in Jalingo, emphasized that the prosecution successfully established its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The duo committed the crime in 2019,” the judge stated.
According to Prosecution Counsel Samson Gimba, Musa was abducted on September 2, 2019, in Serti, while Kambe was kidnapped in Angwan America, Baruwa, on September 29, 2019.
In addition to the death sentence, the convicts were also found guilty of criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms, each receiving a 10-year sentence without the option of a fine. These sentences would be effective from their arrest and detention in 2019.
The judge highlighted the convicts’ confessional statements and their collection of ransom, citing Kambe’s identification of the defendants as members of the gang that abducted her.
In accordance with the Kidnapping and Abduction Law of Taraba 2019, Justice Agya pronounced, “I hereby sentence you to death by hanging on the neck, 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 commuted to life imprisonment, especially since no life was lost in the process of kidnapping.”
The judgment was hailed as sound and commendable by Prosecutor Gimba.
Defense Counsel Mahanar Puki, while pleading for mercy, highlighted the convicts’ status as first-time offenders and their remorse throughout the trial.
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