The Yola Division of the Court of Appeal has sentenced three men to death by hanging for armed robbery and culpable homicide.
The Court of Appeal, presided over by Hon. Justice Chidi Nwaoma Uwa, gave its verdict by affirming the judgment of the state High Court which passed the judgement earlier in 2018.
The Court of Appeal held that the state High court had acted in the interest of justice by sentencing the convicts to death by hanging.
The convicts, Rabiu Alhaji Wada, 25, Luka Umaru,35, and Hamisu Sani, 22, all from Adamawa State, were handed down the death sentence after they pleaded guilty to three counts, namely conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide.
The trio, the court ruled, were thus convicted because they carried out their acts while armed with offensive weapons, contrary to Section 6(b) and punishable under Section 1(2) (a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act Cap R11 Laws of the Federation.
According to the prosecution, the culpable homicide with death was committed in furtherance of a common intention contrary to section 79 and 221 (a) of the Penal Code.
The convicts were earlier arraigned before the state High Court, presided over by Hon. Justice Abdul-Aziz Waziri, on the 23th February, 2017 and jointly charged for the offences.
Delivering its judgment in the suit number/ADYS/17c/2017/ on the 10th April, 2018, the High Court had sentenced them to death by hanging, directing that the convicts be hanged by the neck until they were certified dead by a medical doctor.
But the affected persons had appealed the court’s decision on 6th July, 2018 on the grounds that the lower court erred when it convicted them solely on a confessional statement which they retracted.
Delivering its judgment on the matter, the Court of Appeal dismissed the application and affirmed the judgment of the state High Court on the death sentence.
