NIGERIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARMED ROBBERY

January 20, 2012: Justice Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, Nigeria, sentenced a young man, Onyema Nwakor to death after finding him guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery in Ifako-Agege area of Lagos in July 2006, as stipulated by Section 402 of the Criminal Code.
Thirty-two-year-old Onyema was also accused of taking the life of the daughter of the victim of the robbery, Betty Benson by stabbing her with a knife in the chest during the robbery operation.
Betty reportedly died before she could be taken to the hospital, but her mother, Funmilayo Oyemade, who was hit with a sharp object on the forehead and stabbed in her thigh with the knife was lucky to survive the ordeal.
Mrs. Oyemade, her son, Sesan, who was also in the house during the robbery and the Investigating Police Officer, Oyeyemi Owolabi stood as witnesses during the trial.
Oyemade in her evidence before the court claimed that Onyema, who came to her house with another man, now at large threatened to kill her if she failed to disclose where she kept N50,000 that he was sure she had.
The duo was accused of actually making away with three mobile phones, jewellery and some money from the house while locking Sesan, his mother and the dying Betty in a room in the house until Mrs. Oyemade managed to open the door after about 20 minutes after the robbers had left. (Sources: tribune.com.ng, 21/01/2012)