An Osun State High Court, presided over by Justice Oyebola Ojo, has sentenced Chief Rahman Adedoyin to death by hanging over the murder of Timothy Adegoke Oludare, a post-graduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
Adedoyin is the owner of Hilton Hotel and Resorts Ile-Ife where the deceased Adegoke lodged before his gruesome murder in November, 2021.
Justice Ojo averred that Adedoyin and two of his staff, based on the circumstances of the case established by the prosecutor, Femi Falana, were culpable of conspiracy to commit murder and unlawful killing of the deceased.
She said the decision by Adedoyin not to enter the witness box did not help him, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof on him.
Justice Ojo also said the decision not to enter the witness box meant he agreed to the murder charge pressed against him by the prosecution.
She therefore dismisses the alibi pleaded on his behalf by his counsel, who said the hotel owner was in Abuja for many days around the time of Adegoke’s death.
Adedoyin was charged along with six of his workers, Magdalene Chiefuna, Adeniyi Aderogba, Oluwole Lawrence, Oyetunde Kazeem, Adebayo Kunle and Adedeji Adesola as first to seventh defendants and were docked on an 18-count charge.
Justice Ojo acquitted Chiefuna, Oluwole and Adesola of the counts of conspiracy to murder and murder but found them culpable of other counts.
The trial judge however convicted Adedoyin of counts 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 15 and 16 and therefore sentenced him to death by hanging.
The late Adegoke was reportedly murdered in the night of 5 November, 2021 in his room at the Hilton Hotel and Resorts, Ile Ife, Osun State and his body was illegally disposed off by the hotel’s staff.
The Eruwa, Oyo State-born Adegoke had lodged in the hotel, preparatory to writing his Executive MBA examination at OAU, Ile Ife before his gruesome murder, allegedly for ritual purpose.
Recalled that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, had assured that there will no cover up in the murder of the late Timothy Adegoke Oludare.
He gave the assurance in response to a call by Senator Kola Balogun, representing Oyo South Senatorial District, for a through investigation into the brutal murder of the late Adegoke.
