NIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR ARMED ROBBERY

January 31, 2024:

Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe of a Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on January 31, 2024 convicted and sentenced a man, Emmanuel Iwuno, to death by hanging for armed robbery.
Iwuno was also sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit robbery, after the court found him guilty as charged. He was arraigned on a two count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery.
The prosecution said his offences were contrary to the provision of Sections 299 and 297(2) (a) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.
While delivering judgment, the court held that the prosecution proved the case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge also upheld the testimony of Prosecution Witness (PW1) and victim of the robbery, Obinna Mbah, who told the court that on March 8, 2020, he was approached by four men who robbed him of his car, along Thomas Onyemachi Street, Afromedia Junction, Okokomaiko. Mbah had told the court that one of the men, covering his face with a mask, forced him to lie down on the ground, threatened him with a gun, and took his Infinix phone and money while the other robbers drove away in his car.
The witness said he boarded a motorcycle and gave a hot chase, alongside other motorcyclists. Abike-Fadipe held that Mbah appeared truthful and that both his oral evidence and written statement to the police sustained the elements of his story. During the trial, the convict denied writing a statement and thumb printing on it. He told the court that the police arrested him while he was at a tea shop at the area of the robbery because he wore similar clothes as the suspect.
However, the judge questioned why he did not call either his wife or the tea vendor as witnesses. Abike-Fadipe held that while there is no obligation on the convict to produce evidence to prove he is not guilty of the crime, Iwuno had a strong case against him, thus he needed to make a case to defend himself.
Earlier, the prosecution, led by Adebanke Ogunode, had told the court that cartridges, including a locally made cut-to-size single-barreled pistol, were found in the car after it crashed.