P.M.EXPRESS reports that Hamza was sentenced accordingly by the Bauchi State High Court having been found guilty of culpable homicide.
He was arrested by Police operatives from the Bauchi State Command on 21st December, 2020, for the gruesome murder of the deceased in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi on the same day and he voluntarily confessed to have committed the crime, saying he was asked by a ritualist to bring the eyes for rituals in order to become rich.
The Police found him culpable and then charged him before the Court for the alleged offence.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Faruq Umar Sarki, sentenced him to death by hanging having been found guilty of the offence he was charged for.
Justice Faruq Umar delivered the judgement and pronounced the sentence after he was found guilty of killing the teenage boy, cutting his neck, plucking out his 2 eyes, putting the eyeballs in a bottle while burying his head and body at different locations.
The Prosecution Counsels from the State Ministry of Justice, comprising Mohammed Y Ibrahim, Salihu A Haruna and Ali S Yusuf, had filed a case against the convict accusing him of the offence of murder, punishable with death as per section 221 of the Penal Code Law.
The prosecutors told the Court that Musa Hamza, from Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State lured the deceased to a nearby bush. Out of the sight of people, he hit him with a stick, cut off his head, plucked out his 2 eyes and buried his head and body at different locations.
The convict initially denied the allegation before the Court at the beginning of the trial, but later admitted it and pleaded guilty.
The prosecution presented six witnesses before the Court to prove that he actually committed the alleged offence.
The prosecution witnesses said that the boy’s father brought a complaint that his son did not return home on the day, but he heard information that he was seen with the convict and that they went out, three of them at night and ate dinner together.
They added that there was no fight between them, and did not insult each other. Later, one of them left the accused and the deceased together, but when the suspect was asked he said that he too left him.
However, after he was arrested, Police went and searched his room and found the phone and the Sim card of the deceased in his room, which led to further investigation before he confessed to have committed the dastardly act.
He said that he took the deceased to the forest, killed him and cut off his head, plucked his 2 eyes and then took the Police to where the body of the deceased was buried.
When asked where the eyes were, he said that he left them at home because he put the eyes in a bottle.
Police went and took the eyes and took the deceased body to Alkaleri General Hospital, where a medical doctor certified him death. All the efforts made by counsel to the defendant, Mahmud Maidoki to defend him were unsuccessful.
While sentencing him, the Presiding Judge, Justice Umar Faruq Sarki, said that based on the statements of the witnesses and the confessional statement of the defendant, the Court found him guilty because the accused committed the crime of murder with intent.
Justice Faruq Umar also refused to agree to his request for leniency and sentenced the accused to death by hanging as provided for in Sections 273 and 221 of the Penal Code Laws to serve as a deterrent to those who want to commit such a crime.