The Court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo State Division, on Thursday, upheld the death sentence passed on a popular hotel owner, Dr Ramon Adedoyin, who was found guilty in the murder of an ex-Master’s student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Timothy Adegoke.
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The appellate court, in a lead judgment read by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, upheld the May 2023 judgment of an Osun High Court in Osogbo, which convicted Adedoyin and two hotel workers — Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem — of conspiracy and murder of Adegoke.
Adegoke was found dead in November 2021 at Adedoyin’s Hilton Honours Hotel, Ile-Ife, where he (the deceased) had lodged.
In the May 31, 2023 judgment, the Chief Judge of Osun State, Justice Adepele Ojo, held that the circumstantial evidence presented to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
The lower court judge dismissed Adedoyin’s alibi that he was not within the hotel when the late Adegoke lodged there.
Justice Ojo also held that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box to convince the court that he was innocent, was fatal to his case because the burden of proof had shifted to him.
In the final analysis, the judge said the prosecution proved the charges of conspiracy and unlawful killing pressed against Adedoyin and two of the six workers charged along with him.
She, therefore, sentenced Adedoyin to death and ordered his hotel forfeited.
Displeased, however, Adedoyin approached the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the death verdict and hotel forfeiture.
However, the Court of Appeal, in a judgment on Thursday, partly dismissed the appeal and affirmed the decision of the lower court. The appellate court affirmed the death sentence but reversed the hotel forfeiture.
Justice Omoleye ruled: “The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part.”
Justice Omoleye ordered the return of the convict’s property and also nullified the lower court’s order that the children of the late Adegoke be put on scholarship by the convict.
“The order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel is quashed and set aside. The order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others quashed and set aside,” Justice Omoleye held.
Speaking after the court session, the counsel for the respondent, Fatima Adesina, who represented Mr Femi Falana (SAN), hailed the verdict.
Adesina said, “By the judgment of the Court of Appeal, that conviction has been upheld. So, the only aspect of the judgment that was set aside was with respect of the various decisions of the trial court, which stated that the convicts would be responsible for the education of the children of the deceased.
“Forfeiture of his property to the state government was also quashed by the Court of Appeal.”
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