Seven people have been jailed by Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Wednesday over trafficking, selling, buying and possessing human parts for money ritual.
The convicts are local herb sellers (alagbo), herbalist/ritualist, student, and four others.
The offence was reportedly committed in March 2017 in Ilorin.
Their names include Azeez Yakubu (first convict), Aishat Yinusa, Lukman Saka, AbdulGaniyu Bamidele, Ahmed Yahaya, Saliu Ayinde, and Abdulrasak Babamale.
The first convict, Yakubu, got 15 years, while others got 10 years’ imprisonment each.
Their offences bordering on criminal conspiracy, trafficking and possession of 11 human skulls, 11 lower jawbones, a bunch of hair and 29 pieces of bone taken from cemeteries in Ilorin.
Before the judgment, the first witness, Mohammed Kamaldeen, a police sergeant at the Department of Homicide, State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), had testified that on October 5, 2018, a case of criminal conspiracy and selling of human parts was transferred from Adewole Police Division to his office.
READ ALSO: Adoke’s Trial: I Don’t Know Why We’re In Court, EFCC Tells Judge
He said that the first accused person, Yakubu, was arrested with 11 human skulls, bones and human hair and brought to the station for investigation, adding that he recorded the exhibits as well as obtained the statement of the accused.
Kamaldeen said the exhibits were sent to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) for medical examination to determine if they were genuine human parts.
He said that the items were received at the hospital and after a thorough examination; they were confirmed by Dr. Kazeem Ibrahim to be human parts.
Another witness, Matthew Omotosho, told the court that he was part of the team that arrested the first convict.
“When we got to his home, he (Yakubu) was not at home. So, his house was surrounded by the police. Following intelligence gathering, we learned that he was at Anifowose; we moved there and he was arrested. We brought him to his house at Oke-Are.
“He confessed to the heinous crime and took us to where the skulls and other human parts were kept (the ceiling of his house). They were all brought out.”
A member of a vigilante group, Fatai Adedoyin, also testified. He said he knew the first accused very well and that he was part of those who retrieved the human parts from his roof.
Delivering judgment, Justice Durosinloun Kawu described the activities of the convicts as despicable and shameful and sentenced the first convict, Yakubu, to 15 years imprisonment with N100,000 fine.
He sentenced other convicts to 10 years imprisonment each with N100,000 fine each.
Justice Kawu said the jail terms would run concurrently.
He said that the terms would include the period already spent in prison custody, adding that they were free to appeal the judgment.
Justice Kawu had overruled that the convicts were tortured by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives in Abuja to extract information contained in their written statement.
He described the defence as unreasonable and inconsistent.
Justice Kawu affirmed that the evidence found on the convicts were not animal parts like those of monkeys or gorillas, but those of human beings.
