A middle-aged man, Danlami Mohammed, has been condemned to death for drugging and drowning a commercial motorcyclist, popularly called Okada rider, in Adamawa State.
It was learnt that the Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice Nathan Musa, on Friday handed the death sentence to Mohammed for conspiring with one Friday, said to be at large, to kill Murtala Mohammed and steal his motorbike.
Mohammed was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging on count 3 and also sentenced to life imprisonment on count 1.
On counts 2 and 4, Mohammed was sentenced to a 10-year jail term each without the option of paying a fine.
Justice Musa declared thus: “In the final analysis, it is my considered view that the Prosecution through the confessional statement of the Defendant and the unchallenged and undiscredited testimonies of the Witnesses have proved the charge against the Defendant beyond a reasonable doubt; as such the Defendant is convicted as charged.”
He ruled that the convict showed no mercy on a fellow human being of which his ‘allocutus’ plea goes to no issue, saying that “moreover, the sentence provided under counts 1 and 3 make mandatory sentence”.
“The Court has noted the ‘allocutus’ of the convict and also not unmindful of the gruesome nature of how the convict terminated the life of his victim without any provocation just to steal a motorcycle,” he said.
The Prosecution had informed the court that Danladi Mohammed and Friday (still at large) on or around December 27, 2016, at Tingno community in the Lamurde Local Government Area conspired to steal a motorcycle belonging to the deceased, Murtala Mohammed.
“After killing their victim, Mohammed dishonestly retained the said motorcycle and used same for commercial purposes at Bambam in Gombe State until he was arrested and the vehicle recovered on January 5, 2017,” it also said.
It was also learnt that the convict Friday (still at large) had tricked the motorcyclist into conveying them to a party at Tungan-Ladan in the Numan Local Government Area for a party.
They drugged him with a candy laced with deep sleep causing chemical, allegedly obtained from one Mamman Tingno, before drowning him in River Benue and taking away his motorcycle.
