A 19-year-old man, Ibrahim Khalil has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing his five-year-old nephew, Ahmad Ado in Kano State.

Khalil was convicted on two counts of kidnapping and culpable homicide.

The Kano State High Court judge, Justice Usman Naabba held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and consequently sentenced the convict to 14 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping.

Na’abba also sentenced the convict to death by hanging for homicide.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Mr Lamido Sorondinki, informed the court that the convict committed the offences sometime in 2019 at Karkasara Quarters in the Kano metropolis.

Sorondinki said the defendant kidnapped his sister’s son, Ado, and used sellotape to cover his nostrils and mouth and buried him in a shallow grave at Sabuwar Sheka in Kano.

The prosecution presented three witnesses to the court and four exhibits.

According to the prosecutor, the offences contravened sections 274 and 221 (a) of the Penal Code.

The convict, however, denied committing the offences.

The defence counsel, Aisha Abdulkadir, presented the defendant as a lone witness and pleaded for clemency on behalf of her client.