Armed Robber Sentenced To Death

A Makurdi High Court in Benue State, Northcentral Nigeria, presided over by Justice Elizabeth Kpojime on Monday sentenced Oghenemaro Kesena, 30, to death for criminal conspiracy and armed robbery.

The prosecution counsel, Mrs Abba Ewurum, told the court that Kesena and two others, now at large, robbed one Napoleon Agiri in his shop at gunpoint.

Ewurum said the offence was committed on 24 August, 2004, when the convict and his accomplices, Usman and Sylvester, robbed Agiri of his cell phone and N18,000.

To prove the case, Ewurum called two witnesses and tendered four exhibits.

In his testimony, the victim, who was first prosecution witness, said he was in his patent medicine shop at Northbank, Makurdi, when three young men came and demanded for a pain relieving medicine.

He said he removed the medicine from the shelf to give them only to discover two of them pointing guns at his head.

Agiri said the accused persons demanded for his cell phone and money which he handed over to them out of fear.

He said the robbers ran off immediately but he ran after them while shouting for help.

Agiri said that some people who were at a nearby eatery chased them and caught Kesena while his two friends escaped.

The witness said that his cell phone was recovered from the accused, while he reported the matter to the police.

He said the police arrested the convict at the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, where he was receiving treatment due to the beating he received at the scene of the robbery.

He said he identified Kesena at the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), as one of those who robbed him.

The prosecution also said a statement was recorded from the accused in the hospital, where he admitted to the crime, which was tendered in evidence. The prosecution said the offences were punishable under Sections 6(b) and 1(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 2004. The accused who entered his defence and testified for himself also called his sister, Patricia, as his only witness.

The convict told the court that his admission at the hospital was because of the beating he received from some cult boys over a girlfriend and not for armed robbery.

He said the police arrested him from his hospital bed and took him to state CID where they asked questions with a police officer writing his answers.

He said that the police officer later controlled his hand and made a signature on the document. Counsel to the convict, Mrs Nezan Ebofuame, said the conduct of an identification parade was necessary in the circumstance of the case as the convict was not arrested at the scene.

She also said that the victim did not know the convict before the incident and submitted that the convict’s arrest was based on suspicion as he was not identified by anyone else.

She further submitted that the confessional statement of her client did not satisfy the requirements of the law for the court to rely on it.

According to her, prosecution counsel has not proved her case beyond all reasonable doubt.

The defence counsel, therefore, urged the court to discharge and acquit her client.

In response, prosecution said identification was unnecessary as the identity of the convict was not in dispute.

Delivering judgment, Kpojime said the prosecution proved that a cell phone was taken from the victim in the course of the robbery and the same was recovered from the accused.

The judge declared that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that there was an armed robbery committed on that day and that the accused was one of the perpetrators.