The defendant and Saviour Daniel who died during the pendency of the case on 6th of February, 2024 in Ado Ekiti within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did conspire to kidnap and murder one Comfort James, a commercial sex worker.
The Ekiti State High Court in Ado Ekiti has sentenced 26-year-old David Isaiah to death by hanging for the kidnapping and murder of a commercial sex worker.
The court, presided over by Justice Lekan Olatawura, also handed down additional sentences: 21 years imprisonment for conspiracy; life imprisonment for kidnapping.
Isaiah confessed to pouring herbicide into the victim’s mouth, causing her death, alongside his late accomplice. The offences were contrary to the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021: Section 234 (murder);
Section 280 (kidnapping); Section 279(a) (conspiracy).
The charge reads, “The defendant and Saviour Daniel who died during the pendency of the case on 6th of February, 2024 in Ado Ekiti within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did conspire to kidnap and murder one Comfort James, a commercial sex worker.
The Director of Afrika Brothel Irona, Ado Ekiti, in his testimony before the court, said, “I was called by other commercial sex workers in the brothel, that they have not seen the deceased since yesterday, and also said, she had called to inform them that she had been kidnapped by some people who tied her hands and demanding for a ransom of N100,000.
“I went and reported the matter at the police station and later at the Civil Defence office. Their telephone lines were tracked and later arrested, they took the Civil Defence Officers to where they killed and dumped her dead body”
Ibironke Odetola, the prosecutor, presented statements from the defendants, photographs of the body, a warrant to bury the body, sim cards, herbicide, a pair of slippers, and six witnesses to back up his claims.
The convicted man testified in his own defense, telling the judge that, “After having sex with the deceased, they used her number to call her colleagues that she had been kidnapped and demanded for a ransom of N100, 000.
“Her hands and neck were tied when the ransom was not forth coming and when we discovered she had seen our faces clearly and to avoid been implicated, we poured the herbicide in her mouth and she later died.”
Justice Olatawura stated in his ruling that the prosecution had established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had conspired to abduct and kill Comfort James with his late friend, Savior Daniel.
“Consequence upon the foregoing, the defendant is found guilty as charged.
“Any sympathetic consideration in favour of the defendant cannot therefore be justified by the deceased.
“Consequently, the defendant is sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for Conspiracy, life imprisonment for kidnapping and for murder, the judgment of this court upon you is that, you be hanged by the neck until you be dead, may God have mercy on your soul”, the judge declared.