Three men to die by hanging for abducting, killing Delta monarch

Forum 3 days ago

Three men to die by hanging for abducting, killing Delta monarch

The Delta High Court has sentenced three men to death by hanging for the murder of the late King of Ubulu-uku Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Obi Edward Akaelue Ofulue 111.

The men sentenced to death are Suleiman Musa, Umar Mohammed and Garba Abubakar Haruna aka Dogo.

They reportedly committed the offence on the 6th of January 2016.

The court, presided by Justice M. Omovie, equally convicted and sent one Jemilu Ahmed to prison as he was found with the handset of the monarch.

The convicts were arraigned before the court on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery as well as conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of the royal father.

The prosecuting team from the Delta State Ministry of Justice led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Anthony Orhorhoro, called five witnesses to prove its case.

The witnesses include Pastor Charles Afamefuna Ugboh, who was kidnapped alongside the monarch but survived the incident.

He gave eyewitness evidence of how they were kidnapped at gun point by the defendants and his eventual escape from their custody.

In her judgement, the trial judge held that the prosecution proved its case against all the defendants beyond reasonable doubts.

The court then sentenced the three defendants who carried out the kidnapping and murder of Obi Edward Akalue Ofilue 111 to death by hanging.

The court also sentenced Jemilu Ahmed to 14 years imprisonment with no option of fine for receiving the robbed property of the deceased monarch.

It will be recalled that the monarch was kidnapped along the Obior road, and held in captivity, until his corpse was later found in the bush days after.