Appeal Court upholds Adedoyin’s death sentence over student’s murder
The Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, has upheld the death sentence of industrialist Rahmon Adedoyin for his role in the murder of Timothy Adegoke, an MBA student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
The appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence handed down by the High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, ruling that they were lawful.
Adedoyin, dissatisfied with the original judgment, had appealed the ruling, but the Court of Appeal has now confirmed the sentence, maintaining the death penalty.
Background
In November 2021, Adegoke, a postgraduate student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, was declared missing after lodging at the Hilton Honours Hotel. His body was later found in a shallow grave along Old Ede Road in the town by the police, and it was later discovered that he had been killed at the hotel.
Following the discovery, Adedoyin and his workers were docked on 18 counts, including murder, conspiracy, and an oath of secrecy, among others.
Adegoke’s murder attracted widespread criticism from civil rights groups, including the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), who demanded that justice be served for his killers.
Adegoke was buried amid tears in January 2022.
An autopsy report linked his death to intense hemorrhage (bleeding) due to “severe traumatic injuries.”
Although the autopsy could not pin down the exact cause of his death because of his body’s “advanced decomposition” before the inquest, the pathologist stated that there was no natural disease in the deceased’s body to cause or accelerate death or to cause him to collapse (and die).
During the last court proceedings on April 27, 2023, where all parties in the suit adopted their written addresses, the prosecuting counsel, Femi Falana, a senior advocate, insisted before the court that the deceased was killed and his body dumped in the bush.
He added that those involved in the incident attempted to conceal the crime and took an oath of secrecy to hide the truth.
However, the counsel for Adedoyin, Yusuf Alli, also a senior advocate, asked the court to discharge and acquit the accused, stating that no evidence linked him to the murder.
He argued that the only connection Adedoyin had with the matter was that he owned the hotel where the death occurred.
Also, the counsel for the 2nd, 4th, and 5th defendants, accused alongside Adedoyin, Abdulrasheed Muritala (SAN), argued that there was no direct evidence linking his clients to the murder. According to him, the entire case was based on suspicion, and he urged the court to discharge his clients of the charges.
In her judgment, the trial judge, Ojo, held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while he was a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
She stated that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box did not help his case, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof onto him.
The judge added that Adedoyin’s refusal to testify meant he tacitly agreed to the murder charge brought against him by the prosecution, dismissing the alibi presented on his behalf by his counsel, who had stated that the hotel owner was in Abuja for several days around the time of Adegoke’s death.
In addition to Adedoyin, two other employees working at the hotel, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, were also sentenced to death for the murder.
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