An Ikeja high court has sentenced
Adewale Oyekan, one of the sons of a former oba of Lagos, to death for the
murder of Sikirat Ekun, a 62-year-old businesswoman and politician.
Adewale, son of Adeyinka Oyekan,
a former oba, who died on March 1, 2003, was sentenced alongside Lateef
Balogun, a former domestic servant.
The prince hired Balogun for
N6,000 to murder Ekun, according to the prosecution.
The convicts, who have been in custody
for seven years, were said to have murdered Ekun by strangling her and throwing
her corpse in a 1,000-feet well in her home.
In a two-hour judgment, Raliatu
Adebiyi, the presiding judge, held that the prosecution proved the charges of
conspiracy to commit murder and murder beyond reasonable doubt.
She said: “The circumstantial
evidence was strong and cogent; the act of the defendants in killing the
deceased was intentional and premeditated.
“The court finds that the
prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the offences of conspiracy and
murder, and the defendants are accordingly found guilty of the two-count
charge.
“Section 221 of the Criminal Law
of Lagos State, 2011, stipulates the punishment for the offence of murder as
follows.
“Subject to the provisions of any
other law, a person who commits the offence of murder shall be sentenced to
death.
“Same is the punishment for
conspiracy to commit murder as contained in Section 231 of the Criminal Law of
Lagos State, 2011.
“The above cited provisions of
the law does not give the court any discretion whatsoever in sentencing the
defendants.
“For this reason, the first and
second defendants are hereby sentenced on each of counts one and two, to death
by hanging. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on your souls.”
According to the prosecution led
by Akin George, the convicts committed the offences at 1am on October 17, 2012,
at the home of the deceased located at 5, Babatunde Lalega street, Omole Phase
One, Lagos.
The prosecution said that the
deceased knew Oyekan due to her friendship with his late mother.
“To render assistance to the
prince, Mrs Ekun employed him as the manager of her restaurant,” George said.
“Balogun, the second defendant,
was a former domestic staff of Ekun, who was employed by her to take care of
her elderly father.”
He submitted that Balogun’s
employment was, however, terminated following a dispute with Ekun.
“The convicts conspired, killed
the deceased and threw her corpse in a well within the premises of her home,
and took over her businesses and property including a bus which was sold for
N170,000,” he said.
“When any inquiry was made by
family and friends about her whereabouts, Mr Oyekan informed them that she
travelled to Abuja for the Ileya (Eid-el Kabir) festival. He passed this
information by sending a text message from Mrs Ekun’s mobile phone.
“Following worry from members of
Mrs Ekun’s family, and after an extensive search, her corpse was found two
months later, in December 2012, by well diggers and firefighters.
“The convicts had placed a
generator, a gas cylinder and other household items on the corpse to conceal it
in the 1,000 feet well.”
The trial at the high court began
on April 14, 2015.
Five witnesses, including two
police officers, a nephew of the deceased, Iyiola Olaniyi; and the only child
of the deceased, Folashade Amurun, testified for the prosecution.
Oyekan and Balogun testified for
the defence.
While testifying, the convicts
both denied knowing each other, saying that they met for the first time at a
police station. They also denied committing the offences.
Oyekan said that he met Ekun, who
was a friend of his mother at a PDP rally in 2011, after he returned from the
US where he obtained a degree in architecture.
He said he met the deceased
thereafter at her home where she offered to assist him by employing him to
manage her restaurant.
Earlier, before the sentence was
passed, defence counsel, O. C. Onwumerie, did not plead for mercy on behalf of
his clients.
“I will be leaving sentencing to
the hands of the court,” he said.
Good judgement, this is not matter of personality but is a pity this killer guy drag the name of his family into mud
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