“The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged on the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.”
With these words, an Ogwashi-Uku High Court in Delta state condemned a barber, one Stephen Amamife, to death by hanging for being guilty of armed robbery.
For decades, the convict, who escaped from prison custody in December 2010, with his gang members have terrorized the residents of Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state, a town the state owned Polytechnic is situated.
He was found guilty on a two count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery, punishable under section 1, (2)a, of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act Cap R11, Volume 14 Laws of the Federation, 2004.
Nemesis caught up with the convict and his gang, including one Emeka, now at large, when they stormed a pharmaceutical store.
They had pretended to be searching for a particular herbal mixture before asking its workers to lie down and robbed them serially at gun point.
A Pharmacist, Chidebere Orji, was robbed of his mobile phone, even as his wife’s gold necklace, wrist watch and N46, 000 were snatched.
The Presiding Judge said, since the law provides a mandatory sentence on the charges and the court does not have the powers to mitigate the sentence, he has to die by hanging.
The court also admitted in evidence how the convict with his gang successfully robbed a filling station in the locality.