Court sentences two men to death for armed robbery in Ekiti

Justice Monisola Abodunde of the Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti, on Monday, sentenced two men, Deji Owolabi and Opeyemi Oluwakomolafe to death by hanging for armed robbery.

The judge also sentenced the convicts to seven years imprisonment each for conspiracy and for escaping from lawful custody at the Ado-Ekiti correctional centre.

The prosecution had earlier told the court that the duo escaped from lawful custody during a jailbreak at the correctional centre on December 1, 2014.

They robbed a couple on July 14, 2015, at Ilumoba Ekiti where they raped the 35-year-old housewife.

The prosecutor, Mr. Ilesanmi Adelusi, called five witnesses and tendered a Dane gun, 10 phone handsets, a machete, and other incriminating exhibits recovered from the convicts.

The convicts rejected five different lawyers arranged for them and chose to defend themselves.

They also called two witnesses.

Read also:Two men sentenced to death for murder of US blogger escape from Bangladeshi court

In her ruling, the judge said: “in my view, the defendants are compulsive pathological liars who have become hardened criminals.

“Rather than mend their ways in prison, they escaped prison during a jailbreak and continued to unleash terror on the community until nemesis caught up with them.

“They are threat to a peaceful existence in our society and they must be made to face the reality of the consequences of their wicked behaviour.

“I find the two defendants guilty as charged and they are sentenced to death by hanging. May the Lord have mercy on your souls.”

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