19-year-old UDS student jailed for life for killing colleague over girlfriend issue

Salifu Nkonya Nurudeen, a 19-year-old Level 100 student of the University for Development Studies (UDS), has been handed a life sentence by the High Court in Tamale.

As reported by 3FM, Nurudeen was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder following the fatal stabbing of his fellow student, Wumpini Mohammed Zakiu, during a confrontation in September 2024 over a disagreement involving a romantic relationship.

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During the incident, Zakiu was stabbed in the chest, and his lifeless body was later discovered on campus.

Initially, his family believed he had fallen victim to a robbery; however, upon noticing that none of his belongings had been taken, they began to suspect that he had been deliberately targeted.

Providing details on the ruling, 3FM’s Northern Regional correspondent, Christopher Amoako, noted that the presiding judge justified the life sentence despite the young age of the accused.

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The court held that the act was premeditated and carried out in bad faith, ultimately resulting in the tragic loss of a life.

In Ghana, murder is a capital offence governed by the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). The law defines and outlines the offence, its elements, and its penalties in clear terms. Under Section 46 of Act 29, the law provides that:

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This means that anyone found guilty of murder under Ghanaian law faces the mandatory death penalty, although in practice, the courts often impose life imprisonment, particularly in recent decades, where there has been a moratorium on executions.