A Kano State High Court has sentenced Paul Owne, the mastermind of the kidnapping and sale of some children in Kano, to 104 years imprisonment.
The court, which was presided over by Justice Zuwaira Yusuf, handed down the sentencing on Friday following an earlier guilty plea entered by the defendant to the 38-count charge levelled against him by the state government.
He was charged with conspiring with six others to kidnap many children who are under 10 years from Kano and sold them in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Five of the alleged accomplices, Ogbono, Emanuel Igwe, Loise Duru, Monica Oracha and Chinelo Ifedigwe, however, pleaded not guilty and their trial is set to commence.
Delivering the judgment on Friday, Justice Yusuf categorized the offences into three classifications.
In the first category, the court upheld that the convict was found guilty in counts 2, 8, 9, 2, 27 and 34, hence, she convicted him to seven years each without an option of fine in addition to the sum of N100,000 fine.
Similarly, the court found him guilty in counts 3, 5, 10, 11, 22, 28 and 38 and was sentenced to seven years.
In the last category, Justice Yusuf said the action of Paul was in contravention of the law in counts 4, 12, 13, 29 and 38, and therefore convicted him to four years on each count without an option of a fine.
She ordered that all the sentences shall run consecutively.
