Ekiti court sentences driver to death by hanging for killing colleague

A driver, Abednego Ajibola has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti for killing a colleague, Ojo Ogunsakin.

Ajibola was said to have killed Ogunsakin after arguments over loading arrangement led to a brawl at the Akure park on Ikere Road, Ado Ekiti on the 10th of March, 2017.

Justice Lekan Ogunmoye found Ajibola, 40, guilty of causing the death Ogunsakin, 42, contrary to Section 316 of the Criminal Code Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

“The ingredients of the offence of murder have been established against the accused person and he is convicted accordingly. The accused person is hereby sentenced to death by hanging on the neck till he will be dead. May the Almighty God have mercy on his soul,” the judge ruled.

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In establishing the case, the prosecution counsel, Mr Gbemiga Adaramola, called six witnesses, including the Investigating Police Officer, Sergeant Kamaru Momoh; the wife of the deceased, Mrs Ogunsakin; and a doctor at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, J. A. Omotayo, who conducted the post-mortem examination on the corpse of the deceased.

The defence counsel, Mr Kayode Oyeyemi, also called two witnesses and the convict in order to convince the court of Ajibola’s innocence.

Ajibola, in his statement to the police, had said a brawl broke out between him and the deceased on the loading arrangement on the fateful day.

According to him, the deceased slapped him, which provoked him to retaliate by attacking him with a stone, which led to his death.

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