•Court sentences man to death for setting mother ablaze

Residents of Aiyedun quarters, in Akure South Local Council of Ondo State, were thrown into mourning, yesterday, following the death of a nine-day-old baby and her 30-year-old mother.

The tragedy occurred when an overhead water tank crashed onto a one-bedroom detached bungalow housing the baby and its mother. Sources said the mother, identified as Bose Sanusi, had, on Tuesday, two days earlier, christened the deceased baby.

The baby’s grandmother and elder brother, however, escaped narrowly, because they were in the kitchen, which was unaffected by the collapse. The lifeless bodies have since been evacuated and deposited at the mortuary, at the state specialist hospital.

Confirming the incident, Spokesperson for the State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, said a 30-year-old mother and her daughter were killed in the incident. She said an investigation was ongoing on the tragedy.

MEANWHILE, a Niger State High Court in Minna, presided over by Chief Judge, Halima Abdulmalik, has sentenced one Stephen Jiya to death for setting his mother ablaze, resulting in her death.

Delivering the verdict in a case of culpable homicide against Jiya, Abdulmalik found him guilty of the offense, punishable under Section 221 of the Penal Code, and which attracts the death penalty.

Jiya was arraigned by the Office of the Attorney General of Niger State for setting Comfort Jiya, a retired Director in the Niger State Ministry of Education, ablaze, sometime in December 2021.He was arraigned before Justice Abdulmalik on September 14, 2022, while hearings on the case commenced November 23, 2022.

Abdulmalik revealed that all pointers indicating the convict was responsible for the crime were established by the prosecutor, and that all the evidence, and prosecuting witnesses that testified were able to prove that the convict was culpable.

The judge said: “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.

“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.” (The Guardian)

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