A Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) has convicted and sentenced a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Nice Ominikoron, to death by hanging for the murder of one of his passengers, Oluwabamise Ayanwole.
Justice Serifat Sonaike condemned Ominikoron to death in a verdict on Friday, adding that the Lagos State government had been able to prove beyond all reasonable doubts, that the convict committed the crime.
She said: “For the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you.”
She relied on a variety of circumstantial evidence, including testimonies from a pathologist and a dying declaration from the victim.
According to her, the evidence pointed to the defendant as the last person to see Ayanwola before her death on February 26, 2022.
Besides, she also convicted the defendant of raping a 29-year-old woman, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, on November 25, 2021, without her consent.
She held that the convict had a documented history of raping female passengers on his BRT bus, supported by the testimonies of two victims and the chilling voice note sent by Bamise just before her death, indicating that she did not consent to sexual intercourse with him.
She found that medical reports did not show evidence of penetration, nor was any semen found in the case of Bamise.
She ruled that the charge of rape in her case was not substantiated; instead, the defendant was found guilty of the lesser offence of attempted rape, as established by the prosecution.
She acquitted the defendant on conspiracy charges, emphasising that the prosecution had not met the burden of proof for that accusation.
The state had arraigned Omininikoron before the court on a four-count charge of conspiracy, murder and two counts of rape.
The prosecution had informed the court that the convict, on November 25, 2021, raped a 29-year-old lady Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu in Lagos.
The DPP also claimed that the convict conspired with others now at large and forcefully had sexual intercourse with his then 22-year-old passenger, Oluwabamise Ayanwole, a fashion designer, without her consent and murdered her.
He maintained that the offences ran foul of Sections 411, 223, 260 and 165 of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015.
