Key points
- An Anambra State High Court sitting in Onitsha has sentenced Kosisochukwu Celestine to death by hanging for armed robbery and kidnapping.
- Justice Sylvester Odili ruled that the prosecution successfully proved its case using eyewitness testimonies, bank records, and documentary evidence.
- The convict was part of a armed gang that attacked a victim in Fegge, Onitsha, in August 2022, stealing his vehicle and valuables.
- The victim was held hostage for approximately a day and forced to transfer around N6.7 million from his bank account.
- The court expunged and refused to rely on the defendant’s retracted confessional statement because it lacked the legally mandated video recording.
Main Story
A High Court sitting in Onitsha, Anambra State, has handed down a death sentence by hanging to a man convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping.
Delivering the final judgment, Justice Sylvester Odili affirmed that the prosecution team successfully established its criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. The court based its decision on a combination of eyewitness accounts, financial bank records, documentary exhibits, and various pieces of independent corroborating evidence presented during the proceedings.
The details of the crime presented during the trial revealed that the convict, Kosisochukwu Celestine, alongside members of his criminal syndicate, launched a gunpoint assault against Mr. Chukwudi Collins in the Fegge area of Onitsha on August 6, 2022.
The armed gang abducted the victim, inflicted bodily harm upon him, and forced him to electronically transfer approximately N6.7 million from his personal bank account while keeping him in captivity. Additionally, the attackers dispossessed the victim of his motor vehicle and other valuable belongings, holding him hostage for nearly twenty-four hours before abandoning him.
Following thorough investigations, security operatives tracked the convict to Enugu State, ultimately apprehending him in Onitsha after he had successfully evaded law enforcement for about six months.
The prosecution team, led by Chief State Counsel Mr. Ekwerekwu Uchenna, alongside Principal State Counsels Mrs. Rosemary Uwaeze and Mr. S.I. Mmaduelosi presented three witnesses and submitted multiple exhibits, including transaction logs showing the financial payments made prior to the victim’s release.
Conversely, the defense team, which presented two witnesses, challenged the admissibility of the defendant’s initial admissions. They argued that the state failed to comply with Section 14 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Anambra State, 2022, which legally requires the video recording of all confessional statements.
Although the defendant had originally provided a detailed confession admitting to the offenses, he subsequently retracted his statements during the trial. Consequently, the court expunged the confessional document from the records, ruling that it lacked the video verification required by law, and declined to use it as a basis for the conviction.
The Issues
- Meeting the strict burden of proof in capital offenses through independent financial and physical evidence without relying on contested confessions.
- Enforcing statutory compliance regarding the mandatory video recording of suspect confessions under state criminal justice laws.
- Combating the rise of armed extortion rings that leverage forced digital bank transfers during hostage scenarios.
What’s Being Said
- Outlining the statutory requirements that led the bench to reject the admissibility of the initial police interview records, the defense argued that the statement did not comply with Section 14 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Anambra State, 2022, which mandates video recording of confessional statements.
What’s Next
- The convict holds the constitutional right to appeal the death sentence at the Court of Appeal.
- Law enforcement agencies will utilize the gathered intelligence to track down the remaining at-large members of Celestine’s gang.
- Judicial and security sectors in Anambra State will face stricter compliance checks to ensure all future suspect interrogations are video-recorded according to ACJL guidelines.
Bottom Line
Despite throwing out a retracted confessional statement due to a lack of mandatory video recording, an Onitsha High Court has sentenced Kosisochukwu Celestine to death by hanging based on bank trails and eyewitness evidence proving his role in a 2022 armed robbery and N6.7 million hostage extortion.
