Delta kidnapper to die by hanging

The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday affirmed the death sentence imposed on a Delta State-based kidnapper, Chelynor Halim, bringing to an end his legal challenge against the conviction.

In a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the apex court dismissed Halim’s appeal for lacking merit and upheld the judgments of the lower courts.

Halim was convicted by a High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, in 2017 after the court found him guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery.

Evidence before the trial court showed that Halim and his accomplices kidnapped one Joan Osemene on February 9, 2014, and took her to an undisclosed location in Ibusa area of the state.

During the attack, Halim was said to have slapped the victim, threatened her with a gun and later covered her nose with a cloth containing a substance that rendered her unconscious.

The prosecution also identified the gang leader as Edozie Obude, who allegedly grabbed the victim by the throat, struck her neck with a metal object and ordered that she be searched.

Testifying before the court, Osemene said the gang dispossessed her of her Automated Teller Machine card and N10,000 cash before withdrawing an additional N55,000 from her bank account using the card.

She told the court that her hands and legs were tied before she was moved to another location where the kidnappers abandoned her.

According to her testimony, she eventually untied herself and escaped, running until she reached a major road.

In a dramatic turn of events, the victim flagged down a motorcyclist for assistance, only to discover that he was one of her abductors.

She immediately raised the alarm, attracting passersby who apprehended the suspect before he could escape.

The suspect was subsequently handed over to operatives of the Department of State Services.

Investigations later led security operatives to the gang’s hideout after Halim reportedly provided useful information.

A shootout that followed resulted in the death of the gang leader, Obude.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution had sufficiently established the appellant’s identity and participation in the crimes.

The court found that the evidence presented during the trial firmly placed Halim at the scene of the kidnapping and linked him to the criminal acts for which he was convicted.

Consequently, the apex court dismissed Appeal No. SC/CR/913/2022 and affirmed the sentence of death by hanging imposed on the convict.