An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced a carpenter, Lasisi Nureni, and a driver, Akintan Adebayo, to death by hanging for armed robbery.

Justice William Olamide convicted the two men on a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed robbery, contrary to Sections 6(b) and 1(2)(a) and (b) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, Cap. R11, Vol. 14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The court sentenced each of the convicts to seven years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to death by hanging for armed robbery.

With both defendants pleading not guilty to the charges, the prosecution’s case was based on the testimony of a fellow driver, Omojolowo Boluwaji, and on a police investigation that tracked one of the stolen mobile phones to Osun State.

Boluwaji told the court that he knew both defendants and that on June 20, 2019, his generator suddenly stopped working, emphasizing that when he stepped outside to check what was wrong, four armed men attacked him, flashed a torchlight in his face, and told him that they were armed robbers.

Boluwaji said the assailants demanded the keys to his newly acquired vehicle, adding that when he refused to surrender them, they overpowered him, beat his wife, and stole his vehicle, five mobile phones, a laptop, jewelry, N900,000 belonging to his wife, and another N490,000.

Inspector Omotadowa Sunday, a police officer, told the court that the police tracked one of the stolen phones to Imesi, Osun State, where Nureni was arrested.

The officer said Nureni confessed to conspiring with others to rob Boluwaji.

Nureni, who denied involvement in the robbery told the court that he was a carpenter and had never committed armed robbery, adding that he did not know Adebayo before his arrest.

He claimed he was arrested after a disagreement with his mother, denied any connection with Osun State, and said he was from Ado-Ekiti.

Adebayo, who also denied conspiring with anyone to commit armed robbery and insisted that he did not know Nureni before their arrest, maintained that his name was Adeoye Adebayo and claimed that he had been in detention since 2018, denying any involvement in the robbery.

In his judgment, Justice Olamide held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that both defendants knowingly participated in a plan to commit armed robbery.

The judge consequently sentenced them to seven years’ imprisonment each for conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to death by hanging for armed robbery.