BREAKING: Court sentences Rahmon Adedoyin, two others to death over killing of OAU student
By THECONSCIENCEng
The Osun State High Court has sentenced the owner of Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife, Rahmon Adedoyin, to death by hanging over the murder of a post-graduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Timothy Adegoke.
The hotelier was sentenced to death alongside two others who were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Mr Adegoke, a Business Administration (MBA) student, travelled from Abuja to Ile-Ife to write his examination. He lodged in the hotel, where he hoped to stay out the period of the examinations. But was declared missing by the police on 7 November 2021.
Few days later, the Osun State police command released a statement disclosing that the 37-year-old student was found dead.
The Osun Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, while delivering her judgement on the case, held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court, pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotelowned by Adedoyin.
According to her, Adedoyin’s decision 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 Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box meant he agreed to the murder charge pressed against him by the prosecution, dismissing the alibi pleaded on his behalf by his counsel, who said the hotel owner was in Abuja for many days around the time the death of the late Adegoke occurred.
