A Kano State High Court has sentenced two men, Umar Auwalu and Yakubu Dayyabu, to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of a 35-year-old woman, Fatima Abubakar, and her six children in the Dorayi Chiranchi area of Kano State.
The convicts were found guilty of a nine-count charge bordering on conspiracy, culpable homicide and armed robbery over the January 17, 2026 attack that claimed the lives of the woman and her children.
The presiding judge, Justice Nasiru Saminu, handed down the death sentences on Friday after holding that the prosecution had established the guilt of the two defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
The court also sentenced Auwalu and Dayyabu to life imprisonment with hard labour each for conspiracy and armed robbery.
However, the judge discharged and acquitted the third defendant, Isyaku Yakubu, ruling that the prosecution failed to present credible evidence linking him to the conspiracy.
Presenting the prosecution’s case during the trial, the Kano State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkarim Kabiru-Maude, told the court that the defendants invaded Fatima’s residence at Dorayi Chiranchi on January 17, 2026, armed with sticks, an iron rod and a sharp cutlass.
He said the attackers robbed the family of N200,000 before launching a brutal assault on the victims.
According to the Attorney-General, Fatima was repeatedly struck with a stick and an iron rod on her neck, while a sewing machine was allegedly used to hit her on the head, leading to her death.
The prosecution further told the court that the defendants attacked and stabbed the woman’s six children with knives and cutlasses, killing all of them in the process.
The children were identified as Maimuna, 17; Aisha, 16; Bashir, 13; Abubakar, 10; Faruk, seven; and Abdulsalam Haruna, a toddler.
In a particularly disturbing account of the incident, Kabiru-Maude said the attackers threw Faruk and the toddler, Abdulsalam, into a well inside the compound after killing them.
During their arraignment, Auwalu reportedly pleaded guilty to the charges but denied throwing the children into the well, while Dayyabu and Yakubu pleaded not guilty.
Delivering judgment, Justice Saminu described the killings as a horrific crime that challenged the conscience of society.
The judge expressed concern that the victims were attacked by people who should ordinarily have protected them, particularly as Auwalu was a nephew of the deceased woman.
He also acknowledged the devastating impact of the killings on Haruna Bashir, the husband of Fatima and father of the six children.
The judge said no amount of compensation could restore the seven lives lost or erase the trauma inflicted on the bereaved husband.
Justice Saminu, however, maintained that the evidence against the third defendant was insufficient to establish his participation in the conspiracy, hence his discharge and acquittal.
The judgment brings a measure of legal closure to one of the most horrifying multiple-murder cases reported in Kano State this year, although the devastating loss suffered by the bereaved family remains irreparable.
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