The Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, has upheld the conviction that Dr. Raheem Adedoyin be killed by hanging.
He was earlier sentenced by the Osun State High Court to death for killing a Master’s Degree student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Mr Timothy Adegoke.
The Chief Judge of Osun State, Justice Adepele Ojo handed down the judgement in a suit for conspiracy to murder, concealment of fact of Adegoke ‘s death, and his eventual murder in his Hilton Hotel in Ile Ife, Osun State.
Adegoke was a Master’s Degree student of OAU who lodged in the hotel.
Apart from Adedoyin, two of his hotel staff, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, were found guilty by the Osun High Court presided by Justice Adepele Ojo in the murder case of Adegoke, whose death occurred between November 5 and 7, 2021, while staying at the Hilton Hotel Ile-Ife.
The court’s judgment relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, which pointed to the involvement of Adedoyin and his staff in the killing. The court noted that Adedoyin’s refusal to testify or provide an alibi weakened his defence.
Consequently, Justice Ojo sentenced Adedoyin and two staff members, to death by hanging over their alleged roles in the disposal of Adegoke’s body from the hotel premises.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, Adedoyin and his co-defendants approached the Appeal Court, seeking to overturn the High Court’s judgment.
In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye on Thursday on behalf of other judges of the Appeal Court upheld the verdict of Justice Ojo that sentenced Adedoyin and two of his staff to death by hanging.
On the issues formulated by the appellate court, the court resolved the verdict that convicted the convicts for conspiracy to kill, unlawful killing, accessory after the fact, and some other various offences on behalf of the Respondents, Osun State government.
However, the Court quashed the decision related to the order of the Trial Court mandating the convicts to be responsible for the education of the children of the deceased Timothy Adegoke.
The Court of Appeal, in its judgment, also held that for convictions, the jurisdiction of the Trial Court is limited to the statutory provisions as to the penalty provided by the law.
The statutory provision, according to the appellate court is either the Trial Court complies with the maximum penalty or the minimum. It said anything outside the two, the court would not have jurisdiction to so do.
The appellate court also quashed the order of the trial court that ordered the forfeiture of the convict’s property to the state government.
