A driver named Kassim Hussain, 27, was sentenced on Wednesday by a Kano State High Court to 15 years in prison and a N500,000 fine for running down and killing a Kano Road Traffic Agency officer while he was trying to take off his license plate.

If Hussain does not pay the N500,000 fine, the Presiding Judge, Justice Maryam Sabo, has mandated that he serve an extra five years in prison.

The court further decided that Hussain’s arrest date would serve as the start date for the jail sentence, which would run concurrently.

The following is contained in a charge sheet prepared by Mahdi Aliyu Abdulrahman, the prosecution attorney for the Kano State Ministry of Justice: “That you, Kassim Hussain, 27, on or about October 29, 2021, at about 10:00hrs at Airport Road opposite Eldorado Cinema in Nassarawa Local Government Area, within the Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, committed culpable homicide with death, in that you caused the death of one Tijjani Adamu Gambo, a Kano Road Traffic Agency personnel who was and so committed a crime that is penalised by Section 221 of the Penal Code (CAP 105) Laws.

In order to bolster his case, the prosecuting attorney called five witnesses and submitted materials including the deceased’s photo, remarks, and medical certificate.

Prosecution witnesses included the deceased man’s father, Adamu Gambo Unguwa Uku; Suleiman Shehu Ismail, a KAROTA officer at the Eldorado Cinema; Dr. Ibrahim, who performed an examination on the deceased and verified his death; and the investigating police officer who took the defendant’s statement.

In an attempt to elude arrest by KAROTA officials on October 29, 2019, the defendant struck the dead with his car, resulting in his death, according to the prosecution’s summary of the facts presented to the court.

As the lone defence witness, Kassim Hussain represented himself, according to Felix Jones Osimerha, the defence attorney.

The defendant faced charges under Penal Code Section 221, which carries a death penalty.

Thus, however, the Presiding Judge, Justice Maryam Sabo, declared the defendant guilty under Section 222 of the Penal Code, Culpable Homicide not punished by death, after hearing testimony and taking into consideration the materials and witnesses adduced in the cause of the trial.

Additionally, the court found Kassim Hussain guilty and punished him in accordance with Section 224 of the Penal Code, which does not carry the death penalty.

Under Section 224, an individual who commits culpable homicide that is not punishable by death faces life imprisonment, a lower term of imprisonment, a fine, or both.