(Kano Court. Photo Credit: News Express)
Tahir Tanimu, 37, was given a death by hanging sentence by a Kano High Court on Monday for fatally stabbing Shamsu Yakubu.
Tanimu and Martins Joseph of Unguwa Uku Quarters, Kano, were found guilty on three counts of culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.
Delivering judgment, Justice Aisha Mahmoud held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge sentenced Tahir Tanimu to death by hanging for culpable homicide.
However, she ruled that since the second defendant, Martins Joseph, was 15 years old at the time the offence was committed, his fate would be left at the governor’s pleasure, given that he was below 18 years old when the crime occurred.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Lamido Abba-Sorondinki, told the court that the convict committed the offence on 1 March, 2019, at Unguwa Uku Quarters in Kano.
He said that on that day, one Aminu Malan, who remains at large, instigated Tanimu, Joseph and seven others also still at large, to conspire and attack the deceased at his residence.
He explained that in the course of the attack, the defendants st@bbed the deceased in the chest with a sharp knife following a disagreement over politics, resulting in his d£ath.
The prosecution called four witnesses to establish its case against the defendants, noting that the offences contravened Sections 97, 85 and 221 of the Penal Code.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Defence Counsel, Sani Idris, pleaded for leniency on behalf of the defendants, urging the court to temper justice with mercy.