Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano High Court has sentenced the killer of a Kano business tycoon, philanthropist, and Yoruba leader, Ganiyu Akanbi Bello, to death by hanging.
The Accused, Abubakar Abdulrahaman, 28, was found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death. He was discharged and acquitted in another charge of armed robbery.
Mr. Abdulrahaman was accused of murdering Mr. Bello on the night of June 5, 2014 in his residence at the Nassarawa Government Reserved Area (GRA) opposite Kano Race Course when he stabbed the victim in the heart with a kitchen knife.
The prosecution led by M.M. Sulaiman of the State Ministry of Justice and assisted by the nominal complainant counsel, J.I. Macaulay of Kehinde Olaitan Chamber, called seven witnesses and tendered several exhibits. The exhibits included the knife used by him to stab Mr. Bello and the Blackberry handset of the deceased inside which he inserted his own SIM card, which made the court indict him as part of circumstantial evidence.
Making his last plea for the accused, his counsel from the Legal Aid Council, Mr. Adama, urged the court to temper justice with mercy because of his aged mother, wife and children.
The trial judge in his final verdict said that the accused deserved no mercy having committed a capital offense by murdering a breadwinner like Mr. Bello. Justice Auta remarked that the accused showed no remorse throughout the trial. He returned a verdict of hanging by the neck for the accused until pronounced dead.
Mr. Abdulrahaman broke down in tears after the verdict, which made his mother collapse in the open court. The accused was a one-time staff of the deceased’s hotel.
Justice Auta added that the accused has the right to appeal the court’s decision within 30 days.