Friday, April 18, 2025 - A high court sitting in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday sentenced one Owoeye Ojo, 51, to d3ath by hanging for attempted m8rder and armed robbery.
Ojo was arraigned before the court on August 25, 2023, on a
four-count charge of attempted m8rder and armed robbery.
The charge read that the defendants on May 21, 2023, at
Oluwole Orungbe Street in Ado Ekiti, armed with guns, axes and cutlasses,
robbed and attempted to murder one Funmilayo Adeyemi and Omolola Adesola.
According to the charge, the defendant and others at large
robbed Adeyemi of her handbag containing money and a handset valued at N85,000.
Also, on May 12, 2023, at Ilokun in Ado Ekiti, the defendant
and others at large robbed Adesola of her laptop, phones, flash drives and a
cash sum of N10,000.
The offences contravened sections 314, 312(2) (b), 241 and
312 (a) of the Criminal Laws of Ekiti State, 2021.
In her testimony before the court, one of the victims,
Adesola Omolola, said, “I was in my house around 8:00 p.m., I was about to go
to bed but one of my sons was outside. I was trying to lock the door from
behind and realised that there was a push from outside. I opened the door to
know why the door was not closed; I saw the defendant and others holding guns,
cutlasses, and axes. I was ordered to lay face down; they ordered my eldest son
to lead them inside the room where they carted away my valuables and cash sum
worth N710, 000. After they left, I reported the matter at Oke Ila Police
Station. A week later, I heard some armed robbers had been arrested in the
neighbourhood. When I visited them at the Rapid Response Squad of the Nigeria
Police Force office, I saw and identified the defendant as one of the robbers
who robbed my house."
To prove her case, the prosecutor, Florence Ajumobi called
four witnesses and tendered one single-barrel gun, live cartridges, a statement
of the defendant, and pictures of the victims among others as exhibits, while
the defendant's counsel, Lawrence Fasanmi, called no witnesses.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye said, “With
the believable evidence before the court, the prosecution has established that
there was robbery on the premises of the victims. The defendant was one of
those who took part in the armed robbery, and there was an agreement between
him and others. The prosecution had therefore proved beyond a reasonable doubt
that the defendant committed the offences as charged. Consequently, the
defendant is hereby sentenced to death by hanging, may God have mercy upon his
soul."
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