Bauchi High Court sentences man to death by hanging for killing friend
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Bauchi State High Court number 10, presided over by Justice Faruq Umar Sarki, has sentenced a man named Musa Hamza to death by hanging for killing his friend.
Justice Faruq gave the sentence after Hamza was found guilty of killing his friend by cutting off his neck, plucking out the eyeballs and putting them in a bottle. He also buried the head of the deceased and his body in different places.
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Lawyers of the Bauchi State Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Y Ibrahim, Salihu A Haruna and Ali S Yusuf had filed a case against Hamza where they accused him of murder.
The prosecutors told the court that Musa Hamza, from Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State, called the deceased, a 17-year-old boy named Adamu Ibrahim and hit him with a stick before cutting off his head.
The suspect denied the accusation against him before the court at the beginning but later admitted to the crime.
The prosecution presented six witnesses while the defence counsel presented one witness, the accused.
The witnesses said that the boy’s father complained to them that his son did not return home but that he got information that he was seen last with Hamza (the accused).
“They went out, three of them at night, they ate dinner together, they didn’t fight, and did not insult each other, and later one of them left the accused and the deceased together,” one of the witnesses said.
Narrating further, he said, “When the suspect was asked, he said that he too had left the deceased but after he was arrested, the police searched his place and found the phone and the line of the deceased in his possession. When the phone was found with the suspect, the investigation continued and he later confessed to the crime.
“Hamza said that he took the deceased to the forest where he killed him. He also took the police to where he buried the body. When asked where the eyes were, he said he left them at home because he put the eyes in a bottle. The police went and took the eyes, and also took the deceased’s body to Alkaleri General Hospital where a medical doctor issued a death certificate.”
While sentencing him, the presiding judge, Justice Umar Faruq Sarki, said that based on the statements of the witnesses and the confessional statements of the accused, the court found that the accused committed the crime of murder with intent.
Justice Faruq also refused to grant his request for leniency but sentenced the accused to death by hanging according to sections 273 and 221 of the Penal code laws to serve as a deterrent to those who intend to commit such a crime.
