Motorcyclist, two others to die by hanging for killing corps member

An Osun State High Court sitting in Ile-Ife, on Tuesday sentenced three men to death by hanging for killing a corps member, Mukaila Adebayo, during a robbery operation in Osogbo, the state capital.

The defendants in the matter are Jelili Kareem, a herbal seller, Oludayo Oludele, a commercial motorcyclist, and Muyiwa Awodeji, said to be an electrician.

The three men had on January 28, 2020, in the Omo West Area of Osogbo allegedly conspired to rob Adebayo, who at the time, was observing a one-year mandatory service for graduates, of his mobile phone, recharge cards and other valuables, before killing him.

The offences committed were said to be contrary to and punishable under Sections 316, 319 and 324 of the Criminal Code Law. Cap.34, Vol. 2. Laws of State, 2002.

Standing trial on offences bordering on conspiracy, armed robbery and murder, the defendants first appeared in court on October 8, 2020, and pleaded not guilty to all the counts pressed against them.

Also arraigned alongside the three men was a vulcanizer, Buliaminu Anifowose, who allegedly bought recharge cards stolen from Adebayo after he was shot dead.

The prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice, Mr Muyiwa Ogunleye, while addressing the court during the trial, said the daughter of the deceased was at the scene when Adebayo was shot dead by the defendants.

Ogunleye, who called Adebayo’s 10-year-old daughter, the pathologist that performed an autopsy on the deceased and the Investigative Police Officer that investigated the matter, as well as a sibling of the late Adebayo, said the prosecution had proven its case beyond doubt.

He urged the court to apply the full weight of the law against the defendants.

But counsel from the Legal Aid Council, Folashade Ipede Suleiman Akano, and Shina Olaniyan, who represented the defendants, insisted that the prosecution failed to prove its case against their clients.

Justice Adedapo Adeniji in his judgment, held that the prosecution had proven that the defendants committed the crime and subsequently convicted three of them for murder and armed robbery.

Adeniji thereafter sentenced Kareem, Oludele and Awodeji to death by hanging but discharged Anifowose.