26 December 2023 :

The Minna High Court presided over by the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, on December 13, 2023 sentenced Stephen Jiya to death by hanging for setting his biological mother ablaze which resulted in her death.
The Chief Judge while delivering a judgement in a case of culpable homicide against Stephen Jiya, found him guilty of the offense punishable under section 221 of the penal code law which attracts the death penalty.
Stephen Jiya was arraigned by the office of the Attorney General of the Niger State Ministry of Justice for setting his mother, Mrs. Comfort Jiya, a retired Director in the Niger State Ministry of Education, ablaze sometime in December 2021.
Jiya was arraigned before Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik on September 14, 2022, while hearings into the case commenced on November 23, 2022.
Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, while analysing the case, revealed that all the ingredients that indicated that the convict was responsible for the crime leveled against him were established by the prosecutor, and all the evidence and prosecuting witnesses who testified before the court were able to prove that the convict was responsible for the killing of his mother.
Justice Halima further stated that the prosecutor would have proved its case against the defendant beyond all reasonable doubt, and she was convinced by all the testimonies of the prosecuting witnesses.
“The prosecutor has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the defendant, and I hereby find you, Stephen Jiya, guilty of the offence of culpable homicide, which is contrary to Section 221 of the penal code,” Justice Halima said.
“In the circumstances, the sentence of the court upon you is that you should be hanged by the neck, electrocuted, executed, or injected with lethal injection until you are dead, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul.”