A Kano State High Court has sentenced Abdulmalik Tanko and Hashim Isyaku to death by hanging following their conviction for kidnapping and culpable homicide.
Abdulmalik Tanko and two others were charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, confinement, and culpable homicide contrary to sections 97, 274, 277, and 221 of Kano State Penal Code 1991.
Delivering the judgement on Thursday, Justice Usman Na’abba ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants criminally conspired to abduct and murder five-year-old pupil Hanifa Abubakar.
Hanifa was abducted in January this year around 5 p.m. by some unknown men, one of whom was later identified as her teacher, who had promised to take her home in a tricycle but fled with her, according to her uncle, Suraj Zubair.
The kidnappers demanded ransom, and one of them was apprehended while attempting to retrieve the money from a nearby garbage can where he had asked for it to be placed.
According to one of the suspects, the girl was poisoned, and her body was placed in a polythene bag.
After a police investigation, the body was discovered.
A statement by the Kano state Police Command on Thursday confirmed that Hanifa’s school teacher, Abdulmalik Tanko, was among the suspects who abducted her.