OAU Student Murder: Court Reserves Judgement On Hilton Hotels Owner, Adedoyin’s Appeal To Quash Death Sentence
Adedoyin, along with two of his hotel staff members, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, were found guilty of Adegoke’s murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
Ramon Adedoyin, the owner of Hilton Hotels in Ile-Ife, Osun State, has appealed the death sentence handed down to him by an Osun State High Court for the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student at Obafemi Awolowo University.
Adegoke died between November 5 and 7, 2021, while staying at Adedoyin’s hotel. The Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, has reserved judgment on Adedoyin’s appeal.
Adedoyin, along with two of his hotel staff members, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, were found guilty of Adegoke’s murder and sentenced to death by hanging. However, three other hotel staff members – Magdalene Chiefuna, Oluwole Lawrence, and Adebayo Kunle – were freed, while the receptionist on duty, Adesola Adedeji, received a two-year prison sentence.
The appeal comes after the Osun State High Court ruled that the hotel where Adegoke died should be forfeited to the state government, and that the education of Adegoke’s children should be funded by the convicts’ estates until they complete tertiary education.
A three-man panel, headed by Justice Olufemi Akeju, on Tuesday, put the appeal on hold after both sides submitted their written arguments. The court will notify the parties of the judgment date.
Adedoyin had urged the Court of Appeal to quash his conviction for the murder of Timothy Adegoke, who was killed after lodging in his hotel in November 2021.
His lawyer, Kehinde Eleja (SAN), said no evidence in the entire trial in the Osun State High Court presided over by the Chief Judge, Justice Adepetu Ojo, linked Adedoyin with the offence of murder.
Hence, he opted not to give evidence or call any witness in his defence.
Mr. Eleja said the judgment of the trial court was full of contradictions and doubts which ought to have been resolved in favour of Adedoyin.
The senior lawyer submitted that the trial judge condemned the appellant and at the same time ordered the same Appellant to sell his hotel to take care of the education of the children of Adegoke.
In his reply to the appelĺant’s submissions, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who led the prosecution team at the trial court, said the unchallenged evidence led at the trial court proved that Adedoyin visited the hotel on November 5, 2021, the night Adegoke lodged in the hotel, only for him and the other two appellants to deny that the deceased lodged in the hotel.
Falana referred to the receipt that was forged to replace the receipt issued to Adegoke when he checked into the hotel.
Mr. Falana also said that Adedoyin summoned the staff members who were on duty when Adegoke lodged in the hotel to his house and bribed them to lie to the police that Adegoke did not lodge in the hotel.
It was also Mr. Falana’s submission that the Hilux bus with which the corpse of Adegoke was dumped by his son, Raheem Adedoyin and the other two appellants on Ife-Ede Road was later found in the house of Adedoyin in Abuja.
It was also noted that evidence confirmed that Adedoyin sent his son, Raheem to take charge of the situation and that Raheem actually did.
It was noted that Raheem’s actions on behalf of the Appellant were designed to cover up the death of Adegoke, which he knew nothing about.
By not giving evidence or calling any witness, Adedoyin accepted the evidence of the prosecution, the lawyer noted.
Falana, therefore, urged the Court of Appeal to affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Messrs Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem represented by Dr. Roland Otaru (SAN) and Dr. Murtala Abdul Rasheed (SAN) respectively also asked the Court of Appeal to discharge and acquit them, saying they knew nothing about the death of Adegoke.
They relied on the evidence of a pathologist, Professor Olusegun Ojo, who had said that the cause of death could not be determined during the autopsy as the body of Adegoke had decomposed.
But Mr. Falana said the evidence of Prof. Ojo could not have been relied upon by the trial court because it was completely illogical.
He submitted that since he said the body had decomposed to the extent that the cause of death was unknown, how did Prof. Ojo turn round to claim that Adegoke did not die of unnatural death. But he could not say that he died of natural death.
Falana also said that the blood on the wall in the room Adegoke stayed in was subjected to forensic examination and confirmed to be his.
Falana said the funding tallied with the evidence of Dr. Waheed Olaogun, who was directed by the coroner to carry out the autopsy.
Falana said Olaogun was the official pathologist who categorically confirmed that Adegoke died of severe haemorrhage or excessive loss of blood.
Falana said that both Aderogba and Kazeem took oath of secrecy administered by Raheem Adedoyin not to reveal the death of Adegoke, and that they joined Raheem Adedoyin to burn the bedding and mattress in Adegoke’s room.
The lawyer also noted that they joined Raheem Adedoyin to dump the body of Adegoke on Ife-Ede Road in the dead of night, in a deliberate move to erase any trace of the murder in the hotel.
Both of them denied that Adegoke lodged in the hotel until they were exposed by the police.
Mr. Falana also urged the Court of Appeal to affirm the judgment of the trial court.
