By Wilson Adekumola
A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has convicted and sentenced two men, Orong Orong Philips and Elisha Robert to death by hanging for kidnapping and killing a famous businessman, Festus Mac-Pepple and one Friday Uranta in 2008 in Rivers State.
The trial judge, Justice Danagogo, while sentencing the duo to death, discharged and acquitted Ishmael Ogwujan for lack of evidence to link him to the crime.
The convicted persons were said to have killed their victims and buried them in a shallow grave in Bayelsa State before they were arrested by the security agencies in 2008.
While speaking outside the courtroom, the Prosecuting Council of the state, Anthony Oma-Wamah, described the judgment as “justice for humanity.”
Oma-Wamah, a Public Prosecutor in the state Ministry of Justice, explained that the convicts were sentenced on a three-count charge, noting that the duo were indicted by counts two and three, which are capital offences and Count One, which carries a 10-year sentence.
He said, “I feel happy that Philip has been convicted to death for killing Uranta and Festus Mac-Pepple. Both Orong and Robert were sentenced to death for Count Two and Count Three and 10 years imprisonment for Count One.
“The 10 years of imprisonment, which was the prevailing law at the time the crime was committed, because at that time, the Rivers State Anti-kidnapping Law had not been passed and they were convicted under the Criminal Code.
“The third defendant, Ishmael Ogwujan, was discharged because there was no sufficient evidence to link him to the crime, but he knew about the crime. They informed him about the kidnap but he told the court that he did not take part in it. So the judgment is justice to humanity.”
