Court finds two guilty, sentences them to death for poisoning ex-Katsina commissioner Rabe Nasir to death

The Katsina State High Court has sentenced two men to death for the 2021 murder of former Commissioner for Science and Technology, Rabe Nasir.

Justice Ibrahim Mashi, presiding at High Court 9 in Katsina, delivered the judgment on Wednesday, finding Shamsu Lawal, a former security guard, and Tasi’u Rabi’u, the late commissioner’s cook, guilty of poisoning their employer to death after unsuccessful attempts to rob him.

According to the prosecution, the duo conspired to eliminate Nasir after failing to steal from him.

A police and hospital-conducted autopsy confirmed the presence of poison in the former commissioner’s body.

The court also handed a five-year jail term to another former guard, Sani Sa’adu, for withholding information regarding the crime.

However, a female suspect, Gift Bako, was discharged and acquitted due to insufficient evidence linking her to the incident.

The convicts’ lawyer, Ahmad Murtala Kankia, pleaded for leniency, citing the convicts’ family responsibilities and dependents.

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Late Rabe Nasir served under the administration of former Governor Aminu Masari and had earlier represented Mani and Bindawa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in 2003.