A Sokoto State High Court has handed down death sentences to three members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, for his or her roles in an armed theft that resulted within the death of a person in Goronyo Local Government Area.
The defendants, Gaji Hassan, Abdullahi Goni Gudusu and Modu Bukar, have been convicted of felony conspiracy, armed theft and culpable murder by Justice Kabiru Muhammad on Thursday.
The court docket’s Public Relations Officer, Nakwanta Muhammad Garba, disclosed this in a press release detailing the judgment.
The case arose from an incident in Kagara village on September 19, 2024, when the three males allegedly intercepted Babangida Nasiru and a girl whereas carrying rifles.
During the proceedings, the court docket heard that the pair have been taken into the bush, the place Nasiru was dispossessed of N260,000 and detained. He was subsequently found lifeless, with bullet wounds to his chest and neck.
The prosecution introduced two witnesses to assist its case. Justice Muhammad stated the account given by the surviving eyewitness was constant and credible.
The decide dismissed the defendants’ assertion that they’d freed Nasiru, noting that they didn’t present a passable rationalization for his death. He relied on the authorized precept of “last seen” in reaching his determination.
The court docket additionally accepted the defendants’ confessional statements, ruling that they’d been made voluntarily. Their claims that they have been tortured weren’t substantiated, in accordance to the decide.
Justice Muhammad held that the eyewitness proof was enough to show the costs in opposition to the defendants.
Consequently, the court docket imposed the death penalty by hanging on every convict, consistent with the punishment prescribed by the Sokoto State Penal Code Law, 2019.
