A Bayelsa High Court sitting in Yenagoa yesterday sentenced one of the killers of the Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Chief Simeon Akpane to death.
Kurotimi Clarkson, 27, an only son, said to be a member of the three-man gang that shot the BSIEC scribe in the head in 2014, was found guilty of a one-count charge of murder.
Justice Margaret Akpomiemien, in her judgement, maintained that all the elements that constitute murder in law, had been successfully proven by the prosecution team from the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Violent Crimes and other Related Offences, led by Arthur Andrew.
The judge held that the plea of alibi by the convict was inadmissible, as the court was convinced that Clarkson, a father of two, was on the scene of the crime on the 10th of October 2014, when the incident happened.
Justice Akpomiemien further held that the International Mobile Equipment Identity , IMEI, on the pack of the phone which was snatched from the deceased, as presented to the court by the deceased’s wife and through which the convict was traced, were exactly the same.
Of the three suspects, however, only Clarkson was convicted, as the others, including Freedom Allen, said to have pulled the trigger, had escaped from the federal prisons in Okaka, Yenagoa.
Source: Leadership
