25-Year-Old Man Sentenced to Death for Slitting Ex-Wife’s Throat

A High Court sitting in Gombe State has sentenced 25-year-old Hassan Mohammed to death by hanging for the brutal murder of his former wife, Halimatu Sadiya-Adamu.

The convict, a resident of Falangaya village in Dukku Local Government Area, was found guilty of culpable homicide after a chilling trial that detailed how a plea for reconciliation turned into a bloodbath.

The judgment was delivered on Wednesday by Justice Abdulhamid Mohammed-Yakubu of High Court No. 2, Gombe.

The prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecution, Abubakar Kungudo, informed the court that the incident occurred on March 25, 2025.

According to the state, Mohammed attacked his ex-wife at about 1:00 pm after she turned down his request to remarry him. Infuriated by the rejection, the defendant used a knife to slit the victim’s throat, leading to her instant death.

Kungudo stated that the offence contravened Section 221 of the Penal Code Law. To prove the case, the prosecution called six witnesses who provided eye-witness accounts of the scene and tendered the murder weapon as an exhibit.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Mohammed pleaded not guilty when the charges were read. During the trial, his counsel, Habib Alkali, cross-examined the state’s witnesses, while the defendant testified as the sole witness in his own defense, denying the allegations.

However, delivering his judgment, Justice Mohammed-Yakubu held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge noted that the testimonies, police investigations, and the defendant’s own confessional statement pointed directly to his guilt.

“Having carefully considered the testimonies of the witnesses, the exhibits presented before the court, as well as the confessional statement of the defendant and the police investigation, the court finds the accused person guilty of culpable homicide,” the judge ruled.

Pronouncing the final verdict, Justice Mohammed-Yakubu said: “The sentence of this court upon you, Hassan Mohammed, is death by hanging as provided under Section 221 of the Penal Code Law.”

The court concluded that the evidence established that the convict killed the deceased solely because she refused to return to him as his wife.