Man To Die By Hanging In Ekiti For Armed Robbery

An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti on Thursday sentenced a 22-year-old man, Kehinde Olajide, to death by hanging for armed robbery.

Justice Lekan Ogunmoye said that “the prosecution had proved ingredients of armed robbery against the convict without any reasonable doubt”.

Ogunmoye said, “He is hereby sentenced to death by hanging until he is dead. May God almighty have mercy upon his soul”.

According to the charge, Olajide and other accused persons were charged with nine-count charges bordering on conspiracy, unlawful possession of firearms and armed robbery.

The offences, which were contrary to sections 6(b), 3(1) and 1(b)(a) of robbery and firearms (Special provision) Act, Cap.R11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, were, according to the charge, committed between December 29, 2018, and January 10, 2019, at Ado Ekiti.

The accused person were said to be “armed with dangerous weapons to rob Dayo Folorunsho, Saka Yusuf, Adeoye Oluwatosin, Adeola Oluwatobi, Olayemi Aremu, Hambali Ojo and Ayodele Oluwafemi of their belongings such as mobile phones, Lexus E5 350 car, recharge cards, Bajaj motorcycle, Jewelleries, wristwatches, ZDX Acura car etc and cash total sum of N205,500”.

The court, however, acquitted and discharged three others – Kareem Azeez (24), Bamisile Lateef (28) and Adebayo Basiru (25) for lack of proof of the offence they were charged for.

Justice Ogunmoye said there was no proof against the 2nd, 3rd and 4th accused persons that they committed the offences charged for, saying, “They are hereby acquitted and discharged accordingly”.

To prove his case, the prosecutor, H.A Adeyemi had called five witnesses while exhibits tendered included statements of the accused, locally made pistols, two live cartridges and a black mask among others.