Man jailed 22 yrs for abducting Italian

ASABA — AN Asaba High Court has sentenced one Bello Okashetu to 22 years imprisonment with hard labour for kidnapping an Italian. The victim, Mr. Renzo Galvagni, an engineer, according to prosecution, was abducted by a gang of kidnappers on March 8, 2011 on Okpanam Road. The court was told that the victim, however, summoned courage and jumped out of the gang’s moving vehicle while being taken to a hideout after the gang had succeeded in disposing him of his International passport, cheque booklets, two laptops, cash and other valuables at gunpoint. Handing down the sentence, Wednesday, the judge (names withheld) stated that “in considering the plea for mercy by defence counsel, the court is also mindful of the prevailing rate of the crime of kidnapping. To serve as deterrent to others, I hereby sentence the accused to five years imprisonment with hard labour on count three; seven years imprisonment with hard labour on count four and 10 years imprisonment also with hard labour on count five without no option of fine. Only counts four and five are to run concurrently.” Prosecution called three witnesses, including the victim, to prove its case while the accused called no witness but testified for himself. The court also ordered the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of ‘B’ Division, Asaba to destroy the weapons recovered from the accused which include one AK 47 rifle, 29 rounds of live ammunition and two magazines within 28 days of the judgment in the presence of the Court Registrar. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/man-jailed-22-yrs-for-abducting-italian/#sthash.83gUCcmD.dpuf