A Kano High Court on Thursday, sentenced Abdulmalik Tanko, the owner of the school, and Hashimu Isyaku, 37, to death by hanging for the murder of Hanifa Abubakar, a six-year-old student.
On February 14, Tanko, Isyaku, and Fatima Musa, residents of Kano’s Tudun Murtala Quarters, were charged with five counts of criminal conspiracy, attempted kidnapping, aiding in the kidnapping, kidnapping, and concealing a kidnapping victim.
Justice Usman Na’abba’s ruling stated that the Prosecution’s case was proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the evidence used to support it.
“Pw1, Pw2, exhibits 11,12,13, and oral evidence of the defendants tendered by the Prosecution proved their case.
“The court discharges and acquits the third defendant Musa for abetment. She is sentenced to two years imprisonment being a mother for conspiracy and attempt to kidnap,” the judge held.
Earlier, the Defence Counsel, Mrs. Hasiya Muhammad-Imam, pleaded for leniency and urged the court to temper justice with mercy on behalf of the defendants.
“My Lord Tanko is a father of three, Isyaku is the bread-winner of his family while Musa is a mother,” she pleaded.
The Prosecution Counsel, Attorney-General of Kano State, Musa Abdullahi-Lawan, said the case is a crime against humanity.
“I urge my Lord to impose the maximum sentence against the first defendant.
“The First defendant decided to kidnap Hanifa and decided to kill her because she is old enough to recognize him.
“The mother of late Hanifa should have justice,” Abdullahi-Lawan said.
Eight witnesses and fourteen exhibits were provided by the prosecution’s attorney to support their case against the defendants, and they were paid N29,000.
The three convicted criminals testified for the defense. Hanifa was allegedly abducted by Tanko, the owner of Nobel Kids Comprehensive College in Kano, on December 1, 2021.
He allegedly held her hostage in his home in Tudun Murtala for many days before killing her and burying her in a shallow grave on December 10, 2021.
In his confessional testimony, Tanko said that instead of the N6 million he demanded as ransom, he offered Hanifa tea laced with rat poison.
According to the State, the offense violates articles 97, 85, 276, and 274(b), 95, and 277 of the Penal Code as written in Kano State Laws of 1991.
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