An Edo State Special Criminal Court has sentenced four people to death over the abduction of a woman at the Vegetable Market along Airport Road in Benin City.
Justice Aigbona Terry Momodu delivered the judgment on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, in the court’s maiden kidnapping judgment.
The defendants were tried on an 11-count charge involving kidnapping, conspiracy, armed robbery, cultism and unlawful possession of firearms.
The convicts are Marvellous Isaac, 32; Wisdom Michael, 36; Rufus Emete Michael, 30; and Gift Raphael, 27.
The case followed the broad-daylight abduction of a woman at the Vegetable Market on June 14.
The victim was reportedly at the market with her husband and children when armed men abducted her. The incident was later confirmed by the Edo State Police Command.
During the trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses and tendered several exhibits, including a pump-action firearm and four cartridges.
The court found the four defendants guilty on various counts and imposed death sentences on several of the charges.
Isaac received seven years’ imprisonment on count one, death by hanging or lethal injection on counts two to nine, 10 years on count 10 and life imprisonment on count 11.
Michael was sentenced to seven years on count one and death on counts two to nine.
Rufus Emete Michael received seven years on count one and death sentences on counts two, three, four, six and seven.
Raphael was sentenced to seven years on count one and death sentences on counts two, four, six and eight.
The court also ordered the confiscation of the pump-action firearm and four cartridges tendered as exhibits.
The items are to be handed over to the Edo State Police armoury at the State Criminal Investigation Department for destruction within 30 days.
The Edo State Special Criminal Court was established on July 1, 2026, to handle kidnapping and cultism-related cases and accelerate the prosecution of violent crimes.
The case had attracted public attention after a woman who said she witnessed the abduction posted a video describing how the victim was taken from the market in broad daylight.
Police investigations following the incident led to the arrest of the defendants, while the subsequent trial included testimony from alleged victims and police investigators.
Following the judgment, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olayiwola Afolabi cautioned against any immediate execution, saying the convicts should have the opportunity to exercise their right of appeal.
The death sentences are therefore judicial orders and do not mean the four convicts have been executed.
The judgment represents the first major kidnapping ruling delivered by Edo’s new Special Criminal Court.
