Kano Court Sentences Chinese National to Death By Hanging for Killing Girlfriend

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

A Kano High Court has sentenced a Chinese National, Frank Geng-Quangrong, 47, to death by hanging for stabbing his Nigerian suitor Ummukulsum Sani, 22, to death.

In his judgment, yesterday, Justice Sanusi Ado-Ma’aji, said the prosecution counsel had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant’s testimony was inconsistent.

The judge concluded that the defendant intentionally killed the deceased by entering her home without invitation.

Justice Ma’aji explained that the defence counsel, Barrister Muhammad Dan’azumi, could not establish a claim of self-defence, as the stabbing occurred in the neck extra-judicially.

The judge further recommended that the Committee of Prerogative of Mercy may look into the Quangrong’s case if they so wished, by the provisions of Section 113 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, Kano 2019, as prayed by Defense Counsel Barrister Muhammad Dan’azumi.

In response to the judgment, the Kano State Attorney General, Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, described it as a landmark decision for the state.

Defence counsel, Muhammad Dan’zumi, stated his intention to appeal the decision at the Court of Appeal, citing grounds for appeal found in the judgment.

Geng-Quangrong committed the offence on September 16, 2022, at Janbulo Quarters, when he stabbed Sani with a knife in her house over a disagreement.

The victim was rushed to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano, where she was confirmed dead by a medical doctor.