On Monday, an Ekiti High Court in Ado Ekiti sentenced one Gabriel Emmanuel to life imprisonment for kidnapping.

The 25-year-old convict was arraigned before Justice Adekunle Adeleye on March 8, 2023, on a three-count charge of murder, kidnapping, and demanding property with menace with intent to steal.

In his judgement, Mr Adeleye said, “The phone call logs were corroborated by the evidence of the complainant while the content of the defendant’s confessional statements were consistent with the facts established in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses.

“In all, I find that the prosecution counsel has established the ingredients of the offence of kidnapping and demanding property with menace with intent to steal.

“The defendant is found guilty as charged and accordingly convicted.

” On the offence of kidnapping, the defendant is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment and as well sentenced to three years imprisonment for demanding property with menace, with intent to steal,” the judge pronounced.

During trial, the prosecution counsel, Ibironke Odetola, said that Mr Emmannuel and others at large on September 13, 2020, at Umesi Quarters, Igirigiri Road Odo-Ado Ekiti, murdered one Jejelowo Fesobi

Mr Odetola also said that on June 24, 2020, at Eda-Ile, Ekiti, Mr Emmanuel kidnapped a traditional ruler, Oba Adeniran Omotayo, the Eleda of Eda-Ile.

He said further that the convict, with others still at large on November 20, 2021, demanded N4 million with menace, with intent to steal from one Mr Joseph Olorunfemi in Ilumoba, Ekiti.

According to the charges, the offences contravened Sections 319 (1), 316 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap.C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012 and Section 3 of Ekiti State Kidnap and Terrorism (Prohibition) Law, 2015.

In his testimony during trial, Oba Adeniran said,” I went to Abaojo, one of my settlements in Eda Ile Ekiti, suddenly, I saw some men, all of them carried AK-47 riffles.

“One of them pointed at me, and I was kidnapped. My wife, who was with me on the farm, was released and instructed to go and look for money or else they would kill me.

“I was with them for four days before one of my brothers brought a sum of N1.28 million in ransom to them, and I was later released.

“While I was with them, they used my wife’s phone to contact my relatives; at a point, the battery got flat, and they called somebody from the town who brought a charged battery to them.

“I was unable to see his face because he was masked, but I was able to see and recognise the kidnappers’ faces because they unmasked whenever they wanted to smoke.

“When I was finally released, I went to the office of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigerian Police Force in Ado Ekiti to make a formal report,” he said.

To prove his case, the prosecution counsel, Ibironke Odetola, called four witnesses and tendered the defendant’s and victim’s statements, printed out of the call logs, among others, as exhibits.

However, counsel to the defendants, Abee Anofi, called no witnesses.

(NAN)