3 armed robbery convicts to die by hanging

The Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced three robbery convicts, Wasiu Arepo, Oluwaseun Idowu and Ganiyu Hassan to death by hanging after they were found guilty of robbery and murder.

While delivering his ruling, Justice Lateef Lawal- Akapo said Arepo, an aluminium maker, Idowu, a driver, and Ganiyu Hassan, a student and commercial motorcyclist should be hanged by the neck.

The trio were found guilty on four-count charge of armed robbery and murder contrary to Section 402 subsection 2(a) of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State, 2011, and Section 319 subsection 1(a) of Criminal Code Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Prosecution counsel had told the court that the convicts committed the offence on February 5, 2011 at Aleke village, Imota at about 2am. They were said to have stormed the house of their victims, one Mrs Adijatu Bakare and her husband, Abubakar.

After shooting Abubakar in the chest, the convicts were said to have proceeded to rub the family and carted away the sum of N15,000 cash, leaving the victim who reportedly died on his way to the hospital.

The prosecution further disclosed that barely two hours after the incident, the convicts were caught in a nearby community where they lived and had gone to hide, by the vigilante group in the area after the wife of the victim reported the matter at Imota police station and was able to identify one of the convicts whom she had seen during the robbery operation.

The convicts denied participation in the robbery operation during trial, claiming they were at home on the night of the incident.

But in his ruling, LawalAkapo said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convicts committed the crime.