A Kano State High Court presided over by Justice Usman Naabba, has sentenced the Proprietor of Noble Kids College, Abdulmalik Tanko, 38, alongside an accomplice, Hashim Isyaku, to death by hanging for kidnapping and killing a five-year-old pupil, Hanifa Abubakar.
The convicts also bagged five years jail each for conspiracy.
They kidnapped the deceased from the Sheik Dahiru Bauchi Islamic Foundation, killed and buried her in a shallow grave in the Northwest Preparatory School at Kwanar Yan Ghana, in the Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State.
To prove his case beyond reasonable doubt, the prosecution team, led by the Kano State Attorney-General, Musa Lawan, presented eight witnesses and tendered 14 exhibits.
The witnesses included the mother of the deceased, Murja Zubair, operatives of the Department of State Services who arrested Tanko, and police officers who investigated the case.
he exhibits tendered included the confessional statements of the convicts, a photograph of the deceased, a hijab, and an Islamic school badge, among others.
However, the prosecution failed to establish the charge of abetment against the third defendant, Fatima Musa.
She was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for conspiracy and one year for attempting to commit the offence.
Tanko and his accomplices have been standing trial for almost one year before the final verdict.
Source: The Punch
