A Kano State High Court has sentenced one Abdulaziz Umar to death by hanging after convicting him of murder and armed robbery arising from the killing of Mubarak Salisu during a phone snatching incident in 2020.
Justice Zuwaira Yusuf, who delivered judgment in the case on Tuesday, held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and found Umar guilty on all counts.
According to the charge, Umar and five accomplices — Muyi, Umar Sarki, Diga, Ashosho, and Taduke, all of various addresses and still at large — allegedly attacked Salisu at Race Course, Badawa, Kano on October 1, 2020, robbing him of a Samsung mobile phone valued at N100,000.
During the attack, Umar stabbed the victim with a sharp knife in the stomach and on the hand, from which Salisu died.
Umar faced four counts, including criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, culpable homicide punishable with death, and brigandage.
The court found him culpable on all charges, with the homicide count establishing that he inflicted the fatal stab wounds with the knowledge that death would be the probable consequence of his actions.
The prosecution, led by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Aisha Salisu of the Kano State Ministry of Justice, called four witnesses.
The defence, led by counsel Ya’u Abdullahi Umar, presented only the convict himself as a witness.
The five co-accused remain at large.
