A high Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, had on Monday, sentenced a 21-year-old, Isa Abdulkareem to death by hanging.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant committed the offence of armed robbery contrary to Sec.(402)(2) of the Criminal Code Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State Nigeria.

Abdulkareem was first arraigned on the 8th January, 2018, where the charges were read and interpreted to him though, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Justice Oluwatoyin Abodunde, while reading out her verdict said: “I find the defendant guilty and convicted, he is sentenced to death by hanging and may the Lord have mercy on his soul”.

Witnesses who testified during trial told the court that, the defendant was armed with offensive weapons such as gun and cutlass on 19th and 23rd December 2016, respectively when he robbed one Adeya Olalekan of a sum of N74,000, Infinix Note 2 phone among others, he also robbed one Olomola Taiwo of a sum of N110,000 and 2 Techno Y6 phones.

The robbery operation took place at Oke-Ureje, along Igirigiri Road, Ado Ekiti.

The defendant was arrested by the community members during a combined vigilante exercise. On interrogation, he confessed to committing the offence, he took security agents to their hideout where they met and kept their weapons and ammunitions.

Exhibits recovered at the hideout include; 4 Dane guns and toy guns, locally made pistols, 4 Nokia phones, 4Techno phones, masks, cutlasses, charms, axe, victim’s wife’s headgear used to wrap the money, cartridges, expended cartridges, knives, pellets, cash sum of N10,000 among others.

To prove his case, the prosecutor, Mr. Gbemiga Adaramola called 4 witnesses while all exhibits as stated above were tendered including his confessional statements to the Police.

The defendant was led in evidence by his counsel Mr. Adeyinka Opaleke, and he called no witness to support his case.