The Supreme Court on Friday, June 5, upheld the death sentence by hanging for a convicted Delta-based kidnapper, Chelynor Halim. In a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the apex court dismissed the convict’s appeal as lacking in merit.
A High Court in Asaba, Delta State, had held in 2017 that the proof of evidence established Halim’s involvement in armed robbery and kidnapping. The trial court heard that the defendant, together with his accomplices, kidnapped one Joan Osemene on February 9, 2014, and took her to an unknown location in Ibusa, Delta State.
Halim, who allegedly slapped the victim and threatened her with a gun, later covered her nose with a cloth containing a substance that caused her to pass out. At the scene, the gang leader, identified as Edozie Obude, allegedly grabbed the victim by the throat, struck her neck with a metal object, and ordered that she be thoroughly searched.
The victim, who testified during the trial, told the court that after the search, the gang seized her ATM card and N10,000 in cash that she had on her. Subsequently, the gang used the ATM card to withdraw N55,000 from the victim’s account. According to the victim, her hands and legs were tied and she was taken to another location where the gang abandoned her. She eventually freed herself and escaped, running until she reached a major road.
There she flagged down a motorcyclist to move farther from the area, but that motorcyclist turned out to be the convict. Upon recognising him as one of her attackers, the victim raised the alarm, prompting nearby bystanders to apprehend the motorcyclist before he could flee. The convict was later handed over to the Department of State Services, after which he led operatives to his gang’s hideout, where a shootout ensued that resulted in the death of their leader, Obude.
In a lead judgment read on Friday by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, the Supreme Court held that there was no doubt about the appellant’s identity as one of the gang members, and that the evidence adduced at trial established his presence at the scene of the crime. The apex court dismissed the convict’s appeal marked SC/CR/913/2022 and upheld his death sentence by hanging.
The judgment comes amid a rising spate of kidnappings across the federation, including recent abductions of pupils and teachers from schools in Oyo and Borno states. In Borno, armed groups attacked schools in Askira Uba and Chibok local government areas on May 13 and 14, abducting 42 pupils. In Oyo, coordinated attacks on May 15 at Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School; and L.A. Primary School, Esiele, in Oriire Local Government Area resulted in the abduction of another 40 pupils. Efforts are ongoing to secure the release of the abductees.