Fatima Abubakar was 35. Her children were Maimuna, 17, Aisha, 16, Bashir, 13, Abubakar, 10, Faruk, seven, and Abdulsalam Haruna, a toddler. On January 17, 2026, at about 11:30 a.m., all seven were killed inside their home at Dorayi Chiranchi Quarters.
On Friday, a Kano State High Court sentenced two men to death by hanging for their deaths.
Umar Auwalu and Yakubu Dayyabu were also sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour each for conspiracy and armed robbery.
The court heard that the attack came from someone the family knew. Auwalu was Fatima’s nephew.
Justice Nasiru Saminu said the victims were entitled to the protection of their home but were attacked by people who ought to have protected them.
The judge described the killings as a horrific crime that challenged the conscience of society.
He lamented that seven lives, which could have grown into responsible members of society, had been permanently lost.
“How I wish there is a punishment heavier than this,” he said. “My emphasis is not to administer vengeance but justice.”
Prosecutors told the court that the defendants armed themselves with sticks, an iron rod and a cutlass before entering the home.
They said the men took two mobile phones and N200,000 in cash. According to the Attorney-General, Abdulkarim Kabiru-Maude, Fatima was struck on the neck and head and died.
Her children were then attacked with sticks, knives and cutlasses, and the two youngest, Faruk and Abdulsalam, were thrown into a well on the premises.
The trial heard from eight prosecution witnesses and saw 30 exhibits, including medical reports from Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, confessional statements and a flash drive containing audio-visual recordings.
The defence called five witnesses and had the defendants testify.
Auwalu pleaded guilty to the charges but denied throwing the children into the well. Dayyabu pleaded not guilty.
The judge held that the prosecution had proved its case against both men beyond reasonable doubt.
A third man, 21-year-old Isyaku Yakubu, also faced trial. The court discharged and acquitted him, saying there was no credible evidence linking him to the murder. Justice Saminu noted that telephone calls between him and the other two defendants had been shown, but the prosecution did not establish what was said or that the calls amounted to a conspiracy. Evidence also showed that he was at a Qur’anic graduation ceremony in Gano when the killings took place.
After the judgment, Kabiru-Maude commended the judge and the state counsel in the Kano State Ministry of Justice for their work on the case.
The verdict closes the trial, but it leaves a household erased.
A mother, two teenage girls, three boys and a toddler are gone, and the court record says the violence came from within their own extended family.