UK Court Jails 4 Nigerian Stowaways For Threat To Kill

A court at the United Kingdom has jailed four Nigerians who secretly boarded a ship for threatening to kill the sailors.

The court declared Samuel Jolumi, 27, Ishola Sunday, 28, Toheeb Popoola, 27, and Joberto McGee, 21, guilty of affray after an eight-week long trial in the Old Bailey.

In addition to that, Popoola and McGee were also found guilty of attempting to kill.

The Nigerians were apprehended in the UK in December 2018 at Thames Estuary, after creating a scene by throwing faeces at the SBS sailors on board, threatening to infect them with HIV.

Mail online reports that the stowaways also threatened to kill crew members with metal poles when they broke free from quarantine on the 78,000-tonne Italian merchant ship on 21 December 2018. They said they would steer it to the UK.

However, a rescue team was dispatched via helicopters thereby rescuing the Grande Tema’s crew and arresting the men at the Essex coast.

Popoola and McGee bagged thirty one and thirty two months in jail, while Sunday and Popoola were jailed for sixteen months.

Also, the court exonerated them from attempting to hijack the ship.