A Kano State High Court has sentenced five men to death by hanging for killing a 67-year-old woman, Dahare Abubakar, who was accused of witchcraft.
The prosecution counsel, Lamido Abba-Sorondinki, told the court that the convicts attacked the victim on November 15, 2023, in Dadin Kowa Village, Wudil, Kano.
He said the defendants connived at about 8:30 a.m. on the said day after suspecting Dahare Abubakar of being a witch.
Abba-Sorondinki stated that the defendants followed her to the farm and stabbed her to death with dangerous weapons.
The victim was then rushed to Wudil General Hospital, Kano, where a doctor confirmed her clinically dead.
The prosecution counsel presented four witnesses and two exhibits, including the defendants’ extra-judicial statements and a medical report confirming the victim’s death.
The defendants denied committing the offence, which the prosecution said breached Section 221(a), read with Section 79 of the Penal Code Laws of Kano State, 1991.
The defence counsel, Ma’aruf Yakasai, presented eight witnesses, including the defendants, to testify in their defence.
Justice Usman Na’abba, while delivering the judgement, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“I hereby sentence the defendants to death by hanging for homicide and acquit Nabi’a Ibrahim, the sixth defendant, as evidence shows she was not at the scene,” he ruled.
The convicts—Da’luta Ibrahim, Abdulaziz Yahaya, Faisal Yahaya, Ibrahim Abdu, and Ayuba Abdulrahman—were found guilty of homicide.