3 sentenced to die for robbery

The Chief Judge of Benue, Justice Iorhemen Hwande, on Thursday in Makurdi sentenced three men to death for armed robbery.

Hwande pronounced the sentence on the convicts- Sommon Venda, Igba Hime and Aondowase Jeyol, while delivering judgment on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and armed robbery preferred against them.

He said they should all die by hanging.

The convicts were charged with the crime along with five others who are still at large.

The prosecution said the trio and five others on April 10, 2009, blocked the Aliede-Makurdi federal high way while armed with a locally made pistol and robbed passengers in a vehicle with registration number XC 262 UMA, of their valuables.

The prosecution further informed the court that a police patrol team at Aliede which came to the scene of the robbery after the incident, swung into action and arrested the three convicts.

He said the team also recovered a locally made pistol from them.

According to the prosecution, their offences contravened Sections 6 (b) and 1 (2) (a) of the Robbery and Firearms laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.

However, during the trial, the convicts pleaded not guilty to the charges.

They all claimed that their confessional statements made with the police were done under intimidation and torture.

In their testimonies, the convicts told the court that they were suspended on a hanger and beaten up in order to secure their respective confessions.

They insisted that they were not the ones who signed the statements, pointing out that their separate statements were signed by one and the same person.

The prosecution, who called three witnesses to prove his case, argued that their statements in issue were a reflection of the role they played in the commission of the offence.

“The statements were made voluntarily devoid of torture, intimidation or inducement of any sort,’’ he said.

However, the counsel to the convicts, Mr Titus Hyundu, submitted that the prosecution had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt to nail the convicts.

He argued that from the evidence before the court, the convicts were not arrested at the scene of the robbery, so they could not be said to have been among those who committed the crime.

The lawyer also argued that for a statement to be admissible, it must be made voluntarily.

Hyundu said it was clear from the evidence of all the convicts that they were tortured and forced to confess.

He pointed out that the first convict had a fractured hand as an evidence of the torture by the police, arguing that their confessional statements were not even countersigned by a superior police officer.

Delivering judgment, the CJ pointed out that prosecution had proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt.

The judge pointed out that evidence before the court showed that the pistol used for the robbery was recovered from the convicts by the police patrol team which arrested them.

In July, the chief judge had also pronounced death sentence on two brothers, Abubakar Yau and Ibrahim Yau, for robbing their victim of a sum of N39,040 and handsets.

They were alleged to have on March 28, 2009, conspired and robbed at gunpoint one Simon Tartyough and Isaac Kerna both of Guma Local Government Area of the state of their valuable property on Makurdi-Guma road.

In his judgment, last week, the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Iorhenen Hwande, asserted that the law maintained that a person convicted of armed robbery had no option but death sentence, punishable under section 1(2) (b) of the Robbery and Firearms Special provision Act.