Court sentences Patrick Ezeoma, 27, to death by hanging in Yola
By Njoku Paschal, Correspondent, Yola

A 27-year old man, Patrick Ezeoma, has been sentenced to death by hanging by the Adamawa State High Court, Yola.





http://odili.net/news/source/2009/nov/13/400.html


Chief Judge of the State, Bamere Bansi, who handed down the verdict, said it was based on the confessional statement made by the convict and practical evidence tendered before the law court.

Daily Independent gathered that the convict committed the offence in 2000 in Yola when he murdered his business master Pericoma Mbasten, aged 33, for allegedly maltreating him during the course of apprenticeship.

Ezeoma was said to be about 18 years old when the case was formally filed in the court on March 6, 2001.

Bansi ruled that Ezeoma was found guilty of culpable homicide under section 221 subsection (b) of the penal code.

Giving his verdict, the Chief Judge stated he had accepted the confessional statement of the accused person, adding also that “the prosecutor has proven his case beyond reasonable doubts that the convict caused the death of the deceased”.

He stated that the accused should have known that the deceased was a human being and therefore, “I am basing this verdict on the accused statement himself”.

“Having satisfied myself that the case of culpable homicide has been proven beyond doubts, I therefore find the accused guilty and hereby sentenced him to death by hanging until he is dead,” the judge ruled.

Pleading on behalf of the accused, a representative of the Legal Aid Council, E.A Isoko, noted that the accused person committed the act during his teenage years.

“He did so during his teenage years, his action was no doubt despicable, wicked and inexcusable and must be made to attune for his deeds,” counsel to the Legal Aid Council pleaded.

He added: “We plead my lord to tamper justice with mercy in order to give the accused some chances to life and to make resuscitation and some chances to get back on the track”.

In response to the plea, state acting Director of Public Prosecution, Samuel Kyanson, said though the accused person had no previous conviction record, the penal code section under which the convict was found guilty prescribes a mandatory sentence.

O MG, are they still hanging him?