26-yr-old to hang for robbery, rape

For robbing a couple at gunpoint and
raping their teenage daughter, a Delta High
Court sitting in Warri, yesterday, sentenced a 26-year-old furniture maker, Chijioke Ede, to death by hanging.
The condemned armed robber and rapist was
arraigned on a three-count charge of
conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed
robbery and rape before the court presided
over by Justice Marshall Mukoro.
He was found guilty on all the charges and
sentenced to death on count one and two, while he got life imprisonment on the charge of rape.
Prosecution from Delta State Ministry of
Justice had told the court that Chijioke, from Enugu State, with another person still at large, on or about October 12, 2009, at Okoro Street, Warri, off Marine Gate, within the Warri Judicial Division, robbed his victims of a DVD player, a laptop computer, cash, jewelries and other valuables at gunpoint and also raped their teenage daughter.
The convict was arrested by the vigilante
group in the area as his gang made to escape
with their loot.
Justice Mukoro held: "With the avalanche of
facts and evidences before this court, for the accused to say he was not involved in the crime is laughable and an afterthought.
"For the court to hold the evidence of the
accused will amount to denial of justice,
thereby bringing the bar and the bench to
disrepute.
"I hereby uphold the evidence of prosecution
as all the ingredients of the offence have
been proved beyond reasonable doubt and
sentence the accused to death by hanging on
count one and two."

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