Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Five years after, the Ondo State High Court, Akure, has finally sentenced one Dare Ojo to death for the rape and murder of Zainab Adeyemo, 11.
Recall that, Ojo committed the offence on July 17, 2020, along Ese/Irun-Akoko road, Akoko North-East Local Government of the state while conveying the deceased on his commercial motorcycle to the market at Irun-Akoko.
The mother of the deceased had called Ojo, who was a commercial motorcyclist, to take Zainab Adeyemo from Ese-Akoko to the market at Irun-Akoko.
Justice Yemi Fasanmi, in his fearless judgment, said the accused was guilty of the charges leveled against him based on the findings of the pathologist from Federal Medical Centre, Owo, who carried out tests on the remains of the deceased.
He said though there was no witness account, but he invoked the Doctrine of ‘Last Seen.’
Ojo was the last person who saw Zainab Adeyemo, as there was no other person who saw her after the accused took her away.
When given opportunity to talk to the court, Ojo, pleaded for mercy.
However, the court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment having found him guilty of the first charge, rape, punishable under section 31(1), (2), and (3) of the Ondo State Child’s Right Law, 2007,
The court also condemned the accused to death by hanging having been found guilty of murder, an offence punishable under section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap 37, vol. 1, Laws of Ondo, 2006.
