Three of the eight accused persons in the rape and murder of a 24-year-old University of Ilorin student, Olajide Blessing Omowumi on June 2, 2021, have been convicted and sentenced to death by the Kwara state High Court, Ilorin.
The accused, AbdulAzeez Ismail and Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin aka Jacklord, are to die by hanging.
Olayemi Timileyin Omogbolahan (3rd defendant) was convicted of rape and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is also to die by hanging.
The judge found AbdulKarim Shuaib (4th defendant) and Kareem Oshioyemi Rasheed (5th defendant) guilty of conspiracy to steal and stealing of money in the account of the deceased and accordingly sentenced them to three years imprisonment to run concurrently from the day of their arrest.
He discharged and acquitted Abdullateef AbdulRahman, David Bashir Adebayo and Akande Taiye Oladoja the 6th to 8th defendants, receivers of stolen items.
The accused persons were brought before the court by the Kwara State government in suit No KWS/33c/c/2021 on 11-count charge bordering on armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and rape.
In the judgement delivered by Justice Ibrahim Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara state High Court, Ilorin on Tuesday, the convicts were found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, conspiracy to commit robbery, rape and conspiracy to murder.
The 165-typewritten-page judgement, which got almost the whole court room shedding tears while being read by Justice Yusuf, saw even the judge weeping openly for more than two minutes while recounting the process of how the deceased was raped, leading to her death.
The judge held that the gang had the intention of theft and rape without intention to kill, however, added that their act led to homicide.
Speaking on the judgement, the prosecution counsel and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, who started the case as Attorney General of Kwara state, concluded it as a private legal practitioner on pro bono service. He resigned to contest in the APC primaries for the 2023 general elections.
Jawondo, who spoke with journalists after the court session, gave summary of the court judgement.
“The first, second and third defendants who are the main culprits were found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to murder. They were accordingly sentenced to death. That’s maximum. There’s no discretion for the court to exercise by virtue of provision of the armed robbery Act, it’s death. So also by virtue of section 221 of the penal code, it’s death sentence for culpable homicide. So, they were accordingly sentenced to death.
“Although, the third defendant, who was also convicted of rape was sentenced to life imprisonment, but it’s neither here nor there. When somebody is condemned, the life imprisonment does not ameliorate anything.
“With respect to the fourth and fifth defendants, they were found guilty of conspiracy to steal and stealing of money in the bank account of the deceased. You know, after killing her, they took her ATM card, Sim card and her phone. They changed her password, through instrumentality of the fourth and fifth defendants, who are experts in computer manipulation, collected some money through transfer, totalling about N149,000. They were convicted for conspiracy and stealing/theft. They were accordingly sentenced to three years imprisonment to run concurrently. For conspiracy, one year, for main offence three years, commencing from the date of their arrest. They’ve spent about one and half years already in custody.
“The other three: sixth, seventh and eighth escaped by whiskers. They are very lucky. If you look at their involvement, they only assisted to dispose of property stolen”.
