Delta State High Court 2, sitting at Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area, has convicted and sentenced two persons, Mr. Theophilus Nwachukwu and Mr. Christopher Emeka Okoli, to death by hanging on five court charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, armed robbery, and illegal possession.
The presiding judge, Hon. Justice R. Harriman, said the prosecution had proved all the offenses preferred against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.
The nominal complainants, a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Adoghe, had approached the court alleging that the defendants had robbed them of the wife’s Honda car at gunpoint.
The complainants revealed that the defendants ran out of luck when they met a police checkpoint at Aladja, where the police arrested them with Mr. Adoghe still locked up in the car’s booth.
During the trial, the prosecution called the two victims and three policemen as witnesses, whereas the defendants testified in their defense but did not call any witnesses.
Delivering her judgment after a careful examination of the available evidence, Justice Harriman held that the prosecution had proved all the offenses preferred against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.
In a reaction, the prosecution counsel, Theophilus E. Omenuwoma, Esq., who is an Assistant Director in the State Ministry of Justice, held that he was satisfied with the judgment.
The prosecution counsel noted that “the defendants were charged to court on five-count charges bordering on Count 1, conspiracy, which gave them seven years imprisonment; Count 2, kidnapping, 10 years imprisonment; Count 3/4, armed robbery, to death by hanging; and Count 5, illegal possession, which earned them 10 years imprisonment, respectively”.
The prosecution counsel, however, advised that youths in the country should shun crime and engage in meaningful ventures that will give them peaceful money.
He further counseled youths to be patient in life, work hard to achieve success, and never get involved in any form of criminality that could cut short their life span.
