An Ikeja High Court yesterday sentenced a security guard, Usman Ibrahim, to 12 years imprisonment, for killing his friend, Ahmed Aminu, on 14 February 2007.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ibrahim, 47, was sentenced by Justice Lateefat Okunnu, who found him guilty of the offence of involuntary manslaughter.
Okunnu said the sentence count from 24 February 2007, when the convict was remanded in prison custody.
The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had charged Ibrahim to court on a one-count charge of murder.
The prosecutor, Mrs Mosunola Balogun, had told the court that Ibrahim killed Aminu after he found out that the deceased was having an affair with his wife, Anna.
Balogun said the incident occurred at No. C-14 Amuwo Odofin St., Lagos.
“Ibrahim was informed that Aminu was having an affair with his wife. In an effort to discover the truth, Ibrahim started monitoring her.
“On the night of Feb. 14, 2007, Ibrahim closed early from work, went home and hid himself in the kitchen.
“At around midnight, Aminu knocked on the window and his wife admitted him into the apartment.”
The prosecution said Ibrahim came out of hiding and stabbed his friend with a dagger which led to his death.
In his testimony, Ibrahim told the court that Aminu was armed with a knife and had threatened to kill him on the day of the incident.
He said that it was when they were dragging the knife and dagger that he discovered that he had killed his friend.
Delivering her judgment, the judge held that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of murder against Ibrahim beyond reasonable doubt.
Okunnu said the evidence before the court was not sufficient to warrant a murder conviction which attracts the death penalty.
She, therefore, convicted Ibrahim of the lesser offence of involuntary manslaughter.