On Friday, the Supreme Court affirmed the hanging death penalty for Chelynor Halim, a kidnapper convicted in the Delta.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court rejected the convict's appeal as without merit in a unanimous ruling.

In 2017, a High Court in Asaba, Delta State, ruled that Halim's role in armed robbery and kidnapping was proven by the evidence.

The trial court was informed that on February 9, 2014, the defendant and his associates abducted Joan Osemene and transported her to an unidentified place in Ibusa, Delta State.

After reportedly slapping the woman and threatening her with a gun, Halim covered her nose with a handkerchief that contained a chemical that made her faint.

Edozie Obude, the gang leader, is said to have taken the victim by the throat, beat her neck with a metal weapon, and demanded that she be thoroughly examined.

The victim, who testified in court, said that the group had taken her ATM card and N10,000 in cash from her following the search.

The group then took N55,000 out of the victim's account using the ATM card.

The victim claims that the gang left her after tying her wrists and legs and transporting her to another place.

Eventually, she broke free and fled, sprinting till she came to a busy road.

There, she signaled a biker to leave the area; it turned out that the motorcyclist was the convict. The woman raised the alarm after identifying the inmate as one of her attackers, which led to the biker being apprehended by onlookers before he could escape. 

After being turned over to the Department of State Services (DSS), the prisoner led agents to the hideaway of his gang, where a gunfight broke out, killing Obude, the gang's leader.

The Supreme Court ruled in a lead opinion given by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme on Friday that the evidence presented during the trial proved the appellant's presence at the crime site and that there was no question about his identify as a gang member.

The convict's appeal, SC/CR/913/2022, was dismissed by the Supreme Court, which maintained his hanging death sentence.

The ruling coincides with an increase in kidnappings throughout the federation, including the recent kidnappings of students and instructors from schools in the states of Borno and Oyo.

Source