An Ebonyi State High Court sitting in Abakaliki has sentenced two men, Kelechi Iloke and Kingsley Ikpere, to death by hanging for kidnapping and selling a two-year-old boy for N500,000.
The convicts committed the offence in August 2020.
According to the charge before the court, Iloke kidnapped Benjamin, the two-year-old son of his father’s tenant at Ndufu Amuzu in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
He reportedly lured the child out of his parents’ apartment under the pretext of buying biscuits for him.
During the trial, the court found that the second defendant, Ikpere, took the child to a man identified as “OG” in Nkalagu community, Ishielu Local Government Area, where the boy was sold for N500,000.
Delivering judgment, Justice Chinyere Ken-Eze found both defendants guilty of kidnapping and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Reacting to the judgment, the prosecuting counsel and Deputy Director in the Ebonyi State Ministry of Justice, Ijeoma Mike-Ajanwachukwu, commended the court’s decision.
She urged parents and guardians to be more vigilant in the upbringing of their children, stressing that proper parental guidance is essential in reducing social vices and immoral behaviour in society.
