A Dutse Grade I Area Court in Abuja, on Thursday, sentenced a 67-year-old farmer, Samson Aku, to three months imprisonment for injuring and killing cows which strayed into his farm.
Suleiman Mohammed, the presiding judge, sentenced Aku after he was found guilty of the charges filed against him by the herder who owned the animals.
The judge ruled that the act was not justifiable.
“It is evident that the defendant took laws into his hands, which shouldn’t be, and has failed to convince the court in his defence the reason for his actions.
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“Therefore, this court, having found you guilty of the charges brought against you, hereby sentences you to three months in a correctional facility, while in consideration of your age,” he said.
But Mohammed gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N25, 000.
Aku, a resident of Friendship Street, SCC road in Bwari, had been arraigned and charged for causing mischief by killing or maiming an animal.
However, he pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
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The Police Prosecutor, Idowu Ojo, told the court that one Dauda Usman, a Fulani herdsman and resident of Zuma area of Bwari, reported the matter at the Bwari police station on June 6.
Ojo explained that on June 5, while the complainant’s cows were grazing in the bush behind Kogo II village in the district, they mistakenly entered and ate part of the crops on the defendant’s farm.
The prosecutor said the defendant angrily used a machete to maim six cows and killing four in the process; all valued at N360,000.
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Ojo explained that the two other cows were quickly slaughtered by the herder to avoid total loss, after noticing that the injuries inflicted on the animals could kill them.
The police woman added that the defendant confessed to the crime during investigation.
She said that the offence contravened Section 329 of the Penal Code.
