Henry Okah
The presiding judge who is to decide the sentencing of Henry Okah in the Johannesburg High Court, Neels Claassen has postponed the case again to the 18th, 19th, and 20th of March.
Noting that he would not allow any other postponement, the judge said he allowed the postponement in order to give Okah’s new legal team time to get acquainted with the notes left by the old legal team.
The new team led by Gerrit Miller had requested for the time following the withdrawal of the former team, led by Lucky Multulanla.
His last appearance was on the 1st of February.
The prosecution described the request as a ploy to delay the delivery of judgment, but Judge Claassen went ahead to grant the plea because, as he said, he didn’t want to force the new team.
If the hearing had held yesterday, witnesses from Nigeria and the United States would have testified in a bid to forestall the sentencing of Henry Okah.
Okah was found guilty in January of 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating of an explosive device.
He had been fingered as the gang leader of two major car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria‘s capital, on October 1, 2010 during the anniversary of the country’s independence.
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