CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
“You will be hanged on your neck until you are dead and may God have mercy on You.”
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the judgment of Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe of the Domestic and Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, who sentenced a 20-year-old man, Nojeem Badmos, to death by hanging for armed robbery.
Justice Abike-Fadipe held that the prosecution proved the case of armed robbery charged against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt and was sentenced accordingly.
Abike-Fadipe described the defendant’s account on the incident as inconsistent while the evidence of the prosecution witness, Adetokunbo Solomon (victim), were cogent and true.
She held that the defendant in company of two others still at large did rob Solomon of his bag and other valuables early one morning as he stood at a bus stop on his way to work sometime in July 2019.
“On his way to work at the bus stop somewhere in Alagbado area of the state, he noticed a motorcyclist carrying two passengers approaching him. He suspected danger and began to run but the two passengers on the bike came down and ran after him. He fell in the mud and the two others chased after him, caught up with him and beat him up”, she said.
“In respect to the offence of conspiracy to commit robbery, I sentence you to 21 years jail term. In respect to armed robbery having being found guilty, you will be hanged on the neck until you are dead and may the Lord have mercy on you,” Justice Abike-Fadipe.
Meanwhile, the Judge told the defence counsel that the law was clear on the punishment of armed robbery, however, gave him an opportunity for his allocutus. The defence counsel, Mr Ajibade Benson, in his allocutus prayed the Court to be lenient as the defendant was a first time offender.
The prosecution counsel, Mrs Adebanke Ogunde, did not object to the judgment.
The offence of conspiracy and armed robbery contravenes the provisions of Sections 299 and 297 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015, it was on the basis of the Law that the convict was sentenced accordingly.