An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo on Tuesday sentenced four persons to death by hanging for robbing a commercial motorcyclist of his bike, popularly known as “Okada,” in the state capital.
The convicts, Joseph Moses, 24; Samuel Job, 19; Gideon Ode, 25 and Daniel Abraham, 24, were said to have conspired and waylaid one Abubakar Rauf while riding his motorcycle along Kajola Expressway in Osogbo on October 14, 2013.
According to the prosecutor, a counsel from the State Ministry of Justice, Mrs Idiat Temitope , the convicts, at about 8:00pm, robbed Rauf of his motorcycle with registration number BDG 896 QB after stabbing him with a knife.
Temitope informed the court that the convicts were in possession of dangerous weapons, including a jerk knife, assorted charms and other locally made weapons.
While presenting the facts of the case during hearing, the prosecutor argued that “the convicts conspired to attack the complainant (Rauf) with a knife and dangerous weapons and collected his motorcycle.
“They (convicts) injured the complainant and also carted away his Bajag motorcycle to their house before they were apprehended.”
Temitope averred that there had been series of armed robbery along the Kajola expressway, stressing that it had resulted in the killing of many users of the road and residents of the area.
She, therefore, argued that the offences committed by the gang contravened Sections 6 (b) and 1(1), (2) (a) and punishable under sections 1(1)(2)(a) and 1 (1)(2)(a) of the Robbery and Fire Arms (Special Provision) Cap R11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The convicts had pleaded not guilty to the four count charge bearing on conspiracy, assault and armed robbery, when they were initially arraigned in 2013.
Their counsel, Mr. Promise Jones, during the allocutus pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the convicts after the court had found them guilty of the charges.
Delivering her judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Olubunmi Ayoola, said that the prosecutor had proved her case beyond reasonable doubt, saying that the convicts should be punished in order to serve as deterrent to other criminals.
Ayoola then sentenced the four convicts to death by hanging.
The convicts screamed and wailed on hearing the judgement. They could not be consoled by their relatives, who were present in court.
