A Kano State High Court, Thursday, sentenced the proprietor of Noble kids College, Abdulmalik Muhammmad Tanko, to death by hanging for kidnapping and killing a five-year-old pupil of the school, Hanifa Abubakar.

The 38-year-old proprietor was sentenced alongside two others; Hashimu Isyaku, 37 and Fatima Musa, by Justice Usman Naabba.

While Isyaku was also sentenced to death, Musa was sentenced to two years imprisonment for conspiracy.

Hanifa was abducted in December 2021, on her way home from Islamiyya and subsequently discovered to have been killed by the convict, after demanding N6m ransom from the parent of the deceased.

Muhammad is Hanifah’s teacher and school proprietor.

They conspired and kidnapped the deceased from Sheik Dahiru Bauchi Islamic Foundation.

She was killed and buried in a shallow grave in Northwest Preparatory school, located at Kwanar Yan Ghana, in Nassarawa LGA, Kano.

Tanko, the principal suspect in the murder case and Isyaku, have pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy but denied four other charges in the murder trial.

They were charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, concealing/keeping in confinement a kidnapped person and culpable homicide, offences contrary to Sections 97, 274, 277 and 221 of the Penal Code.

To prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecution team, led by Kano State Attorney-General, Musa Abdullahi Lawan, presented eight witnesses, as well as tendered 14 exhibits.

The witnesses include the mother of the deceased, Murja Suleiman Zubair, DSS Operatives who arrested Abdulmalik, and Police officers, who investigated the case.

The exhibit tendered includes confessional statements of the convicts, photographs of the deceased, hijab, and Islamic school badges among others.

However, the prosecution failed to establish the charge of abetment against Fatima but sentenced her to one-year imprisonment for conspiracy and one year for an attempt to commit the offence.