A High Court in Gombe has sentenced five men from Gadam village in Kwami Local Government Area to varying prison terms for exhuming a corpse, desecrating a grave and removing the eyes of the deceased for alleged ritual purposes.

The case was heard before Justice Abdulsalam Mohammed of Gombe State High Court No. 8. The men – Mohammed Isah, also known as Chindo, Kawuni Sarki, Manu Saleh, Umar Jibrin, also known as Daddy, and Adamu Nasiru – were arraigned alongside a sixth defendant, Abdullahi Umar Dauda, on a 10-count charge.

Prosecuting counsel, Ahmed Yakubu Gombe, told the court that the defendants conspired with two others still at large, identified as Aliyu Baka and Reuben, to violate the Gadam Muslim graveyard. They allegedly targeted the grave of one Malam Manu Wanzam, recently buried in the cemetery.

According to the prosecution, the men unlawfully entered the graveyard at night, dug up the grave, unwrapped the burial shroud and brought out the fresh corpse. The court heard that they then removed both eyes from the body. One of the fleeing suspects allegedly escaped with the plucked eyes for ritual use.

The prosecution further alleged that the group attempted to exhume another grave in the same cemetery before they were apprehended. Their conduct, Yakubu said, amounted to criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit an offence, causing indignity to a corpse, unlawful entry into a graveyard, theft, destruction of public property, membership of an unlawful society, use of unlawful charms and unlawful possession of a human head, all contrary to various sections of the Penal Code Law.

When the charges were read and interpreted in court, the defendants pleaded guilty to some of the counts. Relying on their plea, the prosecution asked the court to summarily try and convict them on those admitted charges under the Gombe State Administration of Criminal Justice Law.

In his judgment, Justice Mohammed convicted the five principal defendants and imposed custodial sentences. Each was handed six months’ imprisonment under Section 218 of the Penal Code, along with additional one-year terms on other counts. On the charge of theft, the court convicted Isah, Sarki and Nasiru and sentenced each of them to two years’ imprisonment.

The judge ordered that all sentences run consecutively. In total, Isah received five years’ imprisonment, Nasiru four years and six months, while Saleh and Jibrin each received two years and six months. The court ruled that trial would continue on the remaining counts against the defendants and the other accused persons still before the court.