A state high court in Adamawa State has sentenced eight armed robbers to death by hanging.
The condemned robbers reacted violently, attacking journalists recording the process.
The affected journalists, one from the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and the other from Adamawa State Television (ATV), were cameramen filming the convicts who were handcuffed in pairs but who managed to get hold of pebbles around the court premises to inflict injuries on the cameramen.
The cameramen and other people around the place were saved from further harm by prison officials drafted to provide security.
The convicted persons were found guilty on nine counts, according to the presiding judge, Justice Abdulaziz Waziri of High Court Three, Yola, who said the judgement followed a thorough review of the statements of both the prosecuting and defense counsels.
He said the presentations of the counsels and those of witnesses proved beyond any doubt that the suspects were guilty of the charges against them.He, therefore, pronounced death by hanging against them but explained that they had 90 days to make an appeal against the judgement.
The convicted eight included Aliyu Ardo, Sadiq Mijinyawa, Shaibu Abubakar, and Sani Musa, The others were Kabiru Abdullahi, Saidu Abubakar, Umar Mohammed and Sanusi Ibrahim.
The Adamawa State Controller of Prisons, Umar Audu, who spoke on the violence by the convicts, said the authorities made adequate preparation against such act by providing 10 personnel to take them to court, but that the actions of the convicts came as a surprise as such a thing had never happened anywhere in the state before.
He said the convicts who had since been returned to prison, had shown remorse for their actions.
