Bandits free kidnapped Kaduna judge’s children after killing her 14-year-old son

Bandits have released the three kidnapped children of a Kaduna State Judge, Janet Gimba, after 15 days in captivity. 

The bandits brutally killed the 14-year-old eldest son of the judge, Victor, after the family failed to pay the N300m ransom they demanded.  

Details of their release are still sketchy as of the time of filing this report but Facebook users, Musa Gimba and Sixtus Omokhagbor, posted photos of the children with the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu in Abuja. 

The Chairman of the Kaduna Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Godwin Ochai, confirmed the release of the children on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. 

Ochai thanked God and everyone who stood by the family throughout the trying time.

A human rights lawyer and Chief Executive Officer of the House of Justice, Gloria Ballason,  in a statement last week said the judge and her four children were kidnapped by the bandits on Sunday, June 30, 2024. 

“The abductors, reported to have been about 15, took their captives hostage and demanded a huge sum as ransom,” he explained. 

“On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, the terrorists shot dead the 14-year-old first son of the judge when the ransom demanded could not be obtained. 

The spokesperson of the State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, ASP, said operatives found Victor’s corpse at Ungwan Bayero, Duste village along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

Meanwhile, the family source said that the three siblings are unaware that the bandits killed their brother.