A 22-year-old cattle herder, Mohamodu Zuberu, was on Wednesday jailed for four years by an Osun State Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Osogbo for abducting a 13-year-old boy in Iwari Village.
The convict abducted the victim on Thursday, August 21, 2020, at Iwari village near Ikoyi, headquarters of the Isokan Local Government Area of the state and took him to an unknown destination.
When he was first arraigned on Thursday, September 3, 2020, the police prosecutor, John Idoko, explained that Zuberu unlawfully abducted the victim and took him to a place where none of his relations could reach him.
According to him, the offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 364(2) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34 Vol. II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
Zuberu, who requested that the charge should be interpreted in the Hausa language, pleaded guilty to the one count of kidnapping.
Presenting the facts of the case on Wednesday, Idoko said the convict demanded N2m ransom from the victim’s family.
Idoko explained that Zuberu later reduced the ransom to N350,000 and was in the process of collecting it when he was caught.
When asked for comments before his judgment was read, Zuberu pleaded for leniency, Punch reports.
In his judgment, Magistrate Opeyemi Badmus found the herder guilty and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment with hard labour.”
