2 Nigerian students escape death sentence, jailed 12 years

March 23, 2015 12:33 PM

Accused of drug trafficking, an offence with a death sentence, two Nigerian students, Onyeme Chibunna Okechukwu and Obidiegwu Chinwuba Sigismund, were as good as dead until one of them pleaded guilty.

Two Nigerian students standing trial for drug trafficking offences in the High Court Shah Alam, Malaysia, have escaped the much dreaded death sentence.

Charged for trafficking in 4,432 gm of cannabis, 31-year-old Onyeme Chibunna Okechukwu and his two 29-year-old co-accused, Obidiegwu Chinwuba Sigismund, were being tried under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

They allegedly committed the offence on the 20th of February 2012, at a parking lot at Magna Villa Condo, Selayang, Malaysia.

Under the Dangerous Drugs Act, they faced a possible death sentence if convicted.

The duo managd to escape the hangman's noose after Okechukwu pleaded guilty to the alternative charge of drug possession before the commencement of their trial.

Okechukwu was then handed a 12-year sentence, effective from the date of his arrest on February 20, 2012, and 12 strokes of the cane

Sigismund was acquitted.

In the same court, a 29-year-old Nigerian student, Luke Nnaemeka Ugwu, was sentenced to death by hanging for drug trafficking offences.