A high court in Osun State has sentenced the owner of Hilton hotel, Ille-ife, Dr Ramon Adedoyin with two of his staffs, Adeniyi Aderogba and Kazeem Oyetunde, to death by hanging over murder of a post-graduate student, Timothy Adegoke, of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
Adedoyin who is also the founder of Oduduwa University, Ille-ife was charged along with six of his workers as first to seventh defendants and were arraigned on an 18-count charge which include murder, conspiracy, oath of secrecy among others.
It was reported that the post-graduate student was declared missing by the police on 7th November, 2021 after lodging in the Hilton hotel.
His body was later found in a shallow grave along Old Ede Road in the town by the Police, and it was later discovered that he was killed at the hotel.
At the last proceedings of the court on April 27, the prosecuting counsel, Femi Falani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had insisted before the court that the deceased was killed and his body dumped in the bush.
He added that those involved in the incident attempted to obliterate the act and took an oath of secrecy to conceal the crime.
But the counsel to the defendants argued that the prosecution failed to establish a link between the defendants and the alleged crime.
However, Justice Adepele Ojo, the trial judge, before reading the verdict on Tuesday held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while he was a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
She stated that 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, which means he has agreed to the murder charge against him.
She then discharged and acquitted three other members of the staff, sentence Adedoyin and other two to death and the seventh defendant will hear her sentencing on Wednesday.