Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in
Ikeja, yesterday, sentenced three men to death for kidnapping the
Oniba of Iba community, Oba Yishua Oseni.
The convicts, Duba Furejo, alias General Cuba; Reuben Anthony and
Yerin Fresh, were found guilty of the seven counts bordering on
conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, armed robbery and kidnapping
brought against them by the state government.
The convicts had on July 16, 2016, kidnapped the monarch at his palace.
Delivering her judgement, Justice Taiwo held that the convicts were
guilty of the charges preferred against them.
She said, โI believe the defendants are guilty of the offences of
conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, armed robbery and kidnapping
brought against them by the prosecution and I have no doubt in my mind
that the defendants were involved in the crime.
โI also have no doubt that the defendants knew that their actions were
to cause injuries by gunshot as proved by the prosecution. The
prosecutor has proved his case beyond reasonable doubt and I find the
three defendants guilty as charged.โ
The defence counsel, G. O. Eguaroje, in his allocutus, urged the court
to temper justice with mercy, adding that the convicts were first-time
offenders.
Opposing the allocutus, the prosecutor and Solicitor General, Lagos
State, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, urged the court to impose the maximum
sentence commensurate with the offences committed by the convicts.
She said, โA heinous crime of kidnapping does not only terrorise the
victim, but terrorises the society and nobody is safe.
โA clear statement should be made that Lagos State has zero tolerance
for kidnappers, murderers and robbers, and that in Lagos, you will be
prosecuted and given the maximum sentence if found guilty.
โLagos is not a lawless society and a clear message needs to be sent
to people, who think they can get away with such crimes. Families of
victims are made to look for ransom just to save their loved onesโ
lives and this must be stopped.โ
Sentencing the convicts, Justice Taiwo noted that kidnapping had
become prevalent in the society and had to be stopped.
She said, โFor the offence of conspiracy, the convicts are hereby
sentenced to 10 yearsโ imprisonment each; for causing the death of
Sunday Okanlawon and Joseph Okeke, the monarchโs guards, I sentence
each of the defendants to death; for the attempted murder of Olori
Abosede Goriola, the convicts are sentenced to life imprisonment each.
โEach of the convicts is sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to
commit kidnap; 10 years each for conspiracy to commit armed robbery;
life imprisonment each for armed robbery; and 21 years for kidnapping.
This is the judgment of the court.โ
Reacting to the judgment, Shitta-Bey noted that it would send a
warning to persons, who might want to go into kidnapping, that such
offences were not acceptable in the state.
