BREAKING Adegoke murder: Court sentences Adedoyin to death by hanging
Owner of Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife, Dr Rahman Adedoyin, has been sentenced to death by hanging by Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo.
Earlier, Justice Ojo declared that Adedoyin, owner of Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife, where Timothy Adegoke, an OAU postgraduate student was allegedly killed was culpable of murder.
Justice Ojo in her ongoing judgement said the owner of the hotel and two of his workers, based on the circumstances of the case established by the prosecuting counsel, Femi Falana, SAN, are found culpable of conspiracy to commit murder, and unlawful killing of the deceased.
recall that the Osun State High Court has found hotel owner, Dr Ramon Adedoyin, guilty in the murder case of Timothy Adegoke, a former master’s degree student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Adegoke’s death occurred between November 5 and 7, 2021, at Hilton Honours Hotel, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The suspicious circumstances surrounding the deceased’s demise at the hotel owned by Adedoyin spurred a public outcry and an investigation by the police.
The police subsequently arrested and arraigned the hotelier for alleged culpability in Adegoke’s death.
On Tuesday, Osun State Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, reached a guilty verdict in the case.
The suspicious circumstances surrounding the deceased’s demise at the hotel owned by Adedoyin spurred a public outcry and an investigation by the police.
The police subsequently arrested and arraigned the hotelier for alleged culpability in Adegoke’s death.
On Tuesday, Osun State Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, reached a guilty verdict in the case.
Justice Ojo held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin, who also founded Oduduwa University and The Polytechnic, Ile-Ife, in Osun State.
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 the convict’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.
The deceased was said to have travelled from Abuja to write an exam at a distance learning centre of OAU in Moro, Osun state, on November 5, 2021.
He had lodged in Adedoyin’s hotel.
The student was, however, declared missing two days later only to be found dead.
The police had arrested Adedoyin and the six suspects said to be staff members of Hilton Hotels and Resort, Ile-Ife where the deceased lodged.
In March 2022, Waheed Oluogun, a consultant pathologist at Osun State University Teaching Hospital, told the court that the master’s student died of a severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.
“While exhuming the body, it was found to be completely wrapped in a bloody stained duvet without exposing any part of the body,” he had said.
“It was found in a supine position with two different ropes, one around the neck, the one around the ankles.
“There were maggots found around the left side of the head up to the entire left upper limb. The body was taken to the mortuary section of UNIOSUN Teaching hospital, Osogbo.
“The body was identified by his brother, Adegoke Olugbade. At our teaching hospital, we planned for post mortem examination to know the cause of death. On the 22nd November 2021, 7 pathologists came for the examination.”
