Man to die by hanging for beheading 7-yr-old boy

A Nasarawa State High Court in Lafia has sentenced a man to death by hanging for beheading a seven-year-old boy in 2012. Justice James Abundaga, in his judgement yesterday, said the court found John Yakubu guilty of culpable homicide punishable by death, based on his confessional statement. He said the convict was arrested alongside one […]

A Nasarawa State High Court in Lafia has sentenced a man to death by hanging for beheading a seven-year-old boy in 2012.

Justice James Abundaga, in his judgement yesterday, said the court found John Yakubu guilty of culpable homicide punishable by death, based on his confessional statement.

He said the convict was arrested alongside one Ishaya Daklung by operatives of the Department for State Security Service (DSS) on July 22, 2012.

The judge said Yakubu was also found in possession of a fresh head of Samuel Danjuma, concealed in a polythene bag.

Abundaga held that Yakubu had in his confessional statement, lured the boy, his neighbour’s son, to a stream in Agwan Galadima in Nasarawa Local Government and drowned him before removing his head.

The judge said the death sentence was in line with Section 221 of the penal code.

Abundaga, however, sentenced the second accused, Daklung, to four years in prison with hard labour for being in possession of human head, saying that Daklung’s sentence was in line with Section 219 of the penal code.

Abundaga said the severed head of the victim had been deposited at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia morgue since the incident. (NAN)