A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has sentenced a 23 years old Tope Abiodun, to death by hanging for stealing an android LG phone valued at N87, 000.
The court also sentenced a teenager, Godfrey Emmanuel, to 14 years imprisonment for the same offence.
Another suspect, Samuel Egbe 24-year-old trader at Wuse Market, Abuja, who was charged with dishonestly receiving the LG phone from the 2nd accused (Tope Abiodun), with knowledge that they were stolen, was, however, lucky, as he was discharged and acquitted by the court.
The court was amazed by the ingenuity deployed by the convicts in carrying out the robbery attack on the owner of the LG phone, Jacob Habila, who they attacked with a knife before disposing him of his handset.
According to the prosecution counsel, Assistant Commissioner of Police Simon Lough, the convicts had, on October 3, 2013, at about 9:21pm, positioned themselves half naked, at Impresist junction, Karmo, Abuja, and upon sighting the victim with his LG android phone, approached him to allow them make a distress call to their brother.
They told him they were victims of a robbery attack and would need his assistance to call their brother to bring some clothes for them to put on.
The unsuspecting Habila was touched by their story and in the process of dialling a number that was given to him, the 2nd convict (Godfrey Emmanuel), brought out a knife and stabbed him on the head, while Tope Abiodun escaped with the phone.
With blood dripping from his face, the victim raised the alarm, shouting “thief, thief” which led to the arrest of Emmanuel.
The matter was swiftly reported at the police and Abiodun was arrested a few days later.
The convicts were slammed with a three-count charge by the Commissioner of Police, for armed robbery, contrary to section 6(b) of the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Cap R11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The convicts were represented by Nnamdi Nwiwu, who made frantic but failed legal efforts to get them off the hook.
The lawyer, however, succeeded in saving the teenage robber (Godfrey Emmanuel) from the hangman’s noose by pleading with the court, after he was found guilty of the offences, to consider the provisions of the Child Rights Act, particularly section 221 and section 405 of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act and reduce his sentence to 14 years.
After evaluating the submissions of counsel, including exhibits and documentary evidence before her, Justice Chizoba Orji found the 1st and 2nd accused persons guilty as charged.
She held that from the totality of evidence before her, the prosecution had successfully established the case of armed robbery
The Sun
The court also sentenced a teenager, Godfrey Emmanuel, to 14 years imprisonment for the same offence.
Another suspect, Samuel Egbe 24-year-old trader at Wuse Market, Abuja, who was charged with dishonestly receiving the LG phone from the 2nd accused (Tope Abiodun), with knowledge that they were stolen, was, however, lucky, as he was discharged and acquitted by the court.
The court was amazed by the ingenuity deployed by the convicts in carrying out the robbery attack on the owner of the LG phone, Jacob Habila, who they attacked with a knife before disposing him of his handset.
According to the prosecution counsel, Assistant Commissioner of Police Simon Lough, the convicts had, on October 3, 2013, at about 9:21pm, positioned themselves half naked, at Impresist junction, Karmo, Abuja, and upon sighting the victim with his LG android phone, approached him to allow them make a distress call to their brother.
They told him they were victims of a robbery attack and would need his assistance to call their brother to bring some clothes for them to put on.
The unsuspecting Habila was touched by their story and in the process of dialling a number that was given to him, the 2nd convict (Godfrey Emmanuel), brought out a knife and stabbed him on the head, while Tope Abiodun escaped with the phone.
With blood dripping from his face, the victim raised the alarm, shouting “thief, thief” which led to the arrest of Emmanuel.
The matter was swiftly reported at the police and Abiodun was arrested a few days later.
The convicts were slammed with a three-count charge by the Commissioner of Police, for armed robbery, contrary to section 6(b) of the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Cap R11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The convicts were represented by Nnamdi Nwiwu, who made frantic but failed legal efforts to get them off the hook.
The lawyer, however, succeeded in saving the teenage robber (Godfrey Emmanuel) from the hangman’s noose by pleading with the court, after he was found guilty of the offences, to consider the provisions of the Child Rights Act, particularly section 221 and section 405 of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act and reduce his sentence to 14 years.
After evaluating the submissions of counsel, including exhibits and documentary evidence before her, Justice Chizoba Orji found the 1st and 2nd accused persons guilty as charged.
She held that from the totality of evidence before her, the prosecution had successfully established the case of armed robbery
The Sun
While the man who stole millions is remanded in kuje prison till further notice. Nigeria is indeed a joke
ReplyDeleteJesus phone death is a no from me
ReplyDelete#GODWIN™
It's a no for me too, but looking at the flip side, the man was lucky the stabbing on his head would have led to his death or brain injury. These thief's can be heartless.
DeleteRe they mad?
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity. Big man will sleep in comfy place in the prison with millions and billions while poor man na death fit them.
ReplyDeleteNa wa for this judge agbepo
You fool, maybe if you are less sentimental you will take your time to look at the facts of the case. Armed robbery and attempted murder.
DeleteYou want him to be killed for attempted murder,? You are the fool!
DeleteIs the court mad ni?
ReplyDeleteThe victim was stabbed in the head...that is attempted murder my dear
DeleteIt's sad that the Nigerian Judiciary system and Nigeria as a whole is a joke....This just confirms it.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably be angry at myself if I was a lawyer at this time.
Who is this Justice Chizoba Orji?! Death sentence for stealing a phone! 😱😱😱 she needs to be sanctioned or whatever.
ReplyDeleteThe judge is sick. So they will go and hang him, ba?
ReplyDeleteHaba. This is pure wickedness. Evil and end time people. And what happens to our corrupt government officials? Nothing!! They do and steal worst than this but you will never hear of them, even if we do, they will just bury the case. God should do and end this wicked world already. Let everyone know his or her fate. Wicked people 😔
ReplyDeleteNo!!! This is so wrong. Our judiciary system is so warped.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as if they committed murder while stealing the phone. Or didn't I read it well.
SMH at this unfairness.
Unfortunately for the thieves, THEY WERE ARMED!
ReplyDeleteOnce you are armed (knife, Gun, Cutlass, or even BLADE), you are committing armed robbery and it has nothing to do with the amount or what was stolen. Remember the case that was decided sometime ago by the Supreme Court, affirming the death penalty for the guys that robbed a guy of N5 with a blade.
The distinction is there to make armed robbery a dangerous proposition for anyone. This is a clear demonstration of the pen being better than the sword.
Please explain to these block heads. They are talking about corrupt officials, how is it the same? Do these corrupt officials inflict grievous bodily harm? Mstchew
DeleteWhay? Idonbilivit
ReplyDeletePoliceman go see white
ReplyDeletee go tell you say
I say that thing na red
Tell me something my people
Make una lead us well,
no let this nation to fall inside well(Africa China), death by hanging for phone
This is pure madness. Death by hanging???? That's too harsh. As far as the man survived the stab, that boy should be freed from death. They should sentence him to spend time not death. All those politicians stealing millions of Naira and even caught by the EFCC, where are they? This is Injustice!
ReplyDeleteThis looks more like evil ! Judge yen ti ya weré
ReplyDeleteKnow it can't be, then what happen to our government that stole millions
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone here has ever been held at gunpoint before or just had a gun pointed at you. I have had that horrible experience and I practically saw life been drained out of me.The man that was robbed was stabbed, It is by the grace of God that he is still alive. They had the intention to kill him and if they were not caught, they will jubilate and move on to the next unsuspecting victim (most likely, this is not the first time because of the way the whole operation was planned and executed). Although I feel everyone should be given a second chance, but right now most armed robbers don't repent completely even after been jailed for a long time, they still go back to the streets.
ReplyDeleteI swear down,leave this ones to be talking what they don't know! Those fools rob and kill people for peanuts. God punish all of them
DeleteOmg!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy is our judicial system like this? If it was a politician or a high net worth Nigerian it will be another story. SMH
ReplyDeleteStells, this "headline" is misleading. He was sentenced to death because he was found guilty of ARMED ROBBERY. Stealing was one of the counts of the charge. In Nigeria, the penalty for armed robbery is death. Since we are under civilian rule, the mode of killing is by hanging. If we were unable military rule, it would have been by firing squad.
ReplyDeleteLet me try to explain, in criminal law, when a person or persons steal(s) any item, even if it's a cube of sugar, if the thief/thieves arm themselves with any weapon, even a kitchen knife, the offence is known as armed robbery and it is punishable by death. The weapon need not be a firearm, even if it's the sharp edge of a pen/biro, it qualifies as "arms". Most people mistakenly believe armed robbery must be carried out with guns or assault rifles but any object capable of causing grievous harm is inclusive. Haven't you heard the phrase "taken at knife point"? It's not exclusively firearms.
If the young man stole N 100M without brandishing any weapon, it is regarded as stealing or advance fee fraud with carries a maximum prison sentence of 5 years and 10 years respectively. But if he steals a cube of sugar and he does so with a weapon, as "slight" as the crime may be, it is no longer stealing, it becomes armed robbery. When it comes to armed robbery, it doesn't matter the amount or quality of the item(s) stolen, what matters is that the thief was / thieves were armed.
Better pikin, for you to succinctly explain this way, it means you are a lawyer. Your dad did not waste his money on you.
DeleteI am sure you graduated from the prestigious faculty of law, Ambrose Alli University because we are good like that.. .
Better pikin, for you to succinctly explain this way, it means you are a lawyer. Your dad did not waste his money on you.
DeleteI am sure you graduated from the prestigious faculty of law, Ambrose Alli University because we are good like that.. .
Thank you! I was robbed at gunpoint on my way to school early morning, they took everything and I thank God I wasn't raped. I don't feel pity for those bastards
DeleteStella some of this your BVs are so ignorant that sometimes I wonder if they even read and understand facts and circumstances surrounding a case before rushing to comment.
ReplyDeleteThey were so sentenced not because of the item stolen but because they were armed. Even if they didn't use the weapon,which in this case they did, they will still have received the same punishment if they only threatened the victim with it.
Ridiculous sentence. They neither intended nor actually killed their victim. This is armed robbery, the weapons here being a small knife. What happens to long prison sentence. Receiver of the stolen phone acquitted? Ridiculous. Vampire_ king Solomon etc who rob and kill with ak47 are granted bail by courts when arrested to go back into the society and continue robbery and killing. I don't have sympathy for these boys only I want equitable justice for one and all
ReplyDeleteA small knife that was used to stab someone in the head!!
Delete