An Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta on Tuesday sentenced a 39-year-old labourer, Mohammed Ibrahim, to death by hanging.
Ibrahim is to die by hanging over the murder of a two-year-old baby, and offense he committed in 2014.
The convict was also found guilty by Justice Ayokunle Rotimi-Balogun, for making an attempt to kill one Mrs. Rabi Yakubu, and accordingly sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The convict was tried and convicted on two-count charge of murder and attempted murder.
The judge had held that the prosecution proved the charge of murder beyond all reasonable doubts.
According to her, the convict was found guilty of the two charges, which, it was said, contravened Sections 320, 316(1) and 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.
The prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Oluwabunmi Akinola, had argued before the court that Ibrahim committed the offence on April 12, 2014 at Ofada town, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun.
Akinola said the defendant had trailed Mrs. Yakubu, who had her two-year-old son strapped to her back, as she entered a bush to ease herself.
Getting into the bush, the woman reportedly dropped her baby on the ground to ease herself, when Ibrahim attacked her with a knife, attempting to cut off her head.
The woman, who struggled with Ibrahim, escaped to call for help without carrying her son.
“When Ibrahim realised he did not succeed in cutting off her head which he needed for sale, he then cut off the complainant’s son’s head,” the prosecutor said.
Akinola mentioned that the defendant confessed that his intention was to cut off the woman’s head.
It was said that the convict had negotiated with a woman at Ibadan in Ibode market, who agreed to pay him N120,000 for a human head.
Unfortunately, the said prospective buyer was said to have refused to pay the amount as promised. So, he collected the head back and went to bury it,” she said.