Niger State High Court sitting in the Suleja has resumed hearing into the killing of the late village head of Lambata in Gurara Local Government of the state, three years after the incident.
Recall that some irate youths believed to be loyalists of an acclaimed village head, Illyasu Sarki, who is a defendant in the killing of the late village head, is also standing trial along with 28 other suspects.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, May 12, the defence counsel, Baba Shehu, opened their defence before Justice Aisha Bawa of Suleja High Court number four.
The counsel outlined four witnesses among the accused persons before the court to testify for the defence.
The first defence witness, Musa Mohammed who is the 12th defendant on the matter and the prosecution witness 1 told the court that he was not in Lambata at the time the village head was killed as he was in the neighbouring village of Tufa, where he went to collect medicine for his sick mother but was later informed about the development.
During cross-examination by the prosecuting chief state counsel, Umar Halilu, the witness denied that he knew any Mohammed Abdulsafur, who was appointed as a village head in Lambata, or the person who was killed.
He also told the court that since the death of the last village head about 10 years ago, the acclaimed village head Iliyasu Umar Sarki or any village head, has not been appointed in Lambata to date.
The second defence witness, Yunusa Ibrahim, a cousin of the acclaimed village head, also told the court that he was not aware of the incident as he was inside Lambata market when the incident occurred and was only informed by his father when he returned from the market later in the evening and the following day.
He said he was also arrested two weeks later at the state CID when he went to bail some of the arrested persons in connection with the crime, where some family members of the deceased village head saw him at the CID and told the police that he was among the suspects.
The presiding Judge, Justice Aisha Bawa, told counsels on the matter to assist the court by avoiding unnecessary technicalities that would delay proceedings in the matter, as she intends to speed up the case to punish those found wanting and give justice to the deserving.
She then adjourned the case for continuation of the hearing.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
