Edo court sentences four kidnappers to death
Relatives of four convicted kidnappers wept uncontrollably yesterday as an Edo State High Court sentenced them to death, bringing an emotionally charged end to the first kidnapping case publicly tried by the state’s Special Court for Cultism and Kidnapping Cases. The courtroom was filled to the brim as Justice Aigbona Terry Momodu handed down the sentences, a crowd gathered outside the court premises to catch a glimpse of the convicts as they were led away. The atmosphere evoked memories of the sentencing of notorious armed robber Lawrence Anini and members of his gang in the 1980s, whose case and subsequent execution became one of the most dramatic criminal justice episodes in the state. The four convicts – Marvellous Isaac, 32; Wisdom Michael, 36; Rufus Emete Michael, 30; and Gift Raphael, 27 – were sentenced to death by hanging or lethal […]
