Kwara court sentences man to death for ritual killing of final year student

A Kwara State High Court has sentenced Abdulrahman Bello to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of Hafsoh Lawal, a final-year student at the College of Education, Ilorin.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Hannah Ajayi condemned the killing as “cruel, wicked, and an extreme display of human wickedness,” declaring that Lawal was murdered for ritual purposes and the illegal trade in human body parts.

Bello had been standing trial alongside four others who are Ahmed Abdulwasiu, Jamiu Uthman, Suleiman Muyideen, and Abdulrahman Jamiu on a five-count charge. But the court found insufficient evidence against the co-defendants and acquitted them of all charges.

Justice Ajayi ruled that Bello’s earlier claims of being in love with the victim and planning to marry her were a calculated lie and a ruse to lure Lawal into his home, where she was ultimately killed.

“The prosecution has proven its case beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge said, before pronouncing the sentence: death by hanging.