Convicts also receive jail terms for conspiracy and firearms offences over the 2022 kidnapping and murder of Chief Ajayi Emmanuel.
An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has sentenced four persons to death by hanging for kidnapping and murdering Chief Ajayi Emmanuel.
The convicts were arraigned on September 1, 2022, before Justice Olalekan Olatawura on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and illegal possession of firearms.
According to the charges, the defendants conspired on May 5, 2022, along the Immigration Office area in Ado Ekiti to kidnap and murder the victim. They were also found in possession of four cut-to-size single-barrel guns and 13 live cartridges.
The offences contravene Sections 516A, 3(a) and 319(1) of the Criminal Code Law of Ekiti State, 2012, and Section 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Prohibition) Act.
Testifying before the court, police officer Sergeant Oladele Ayodeji said one of the suspects, Akeem Banjo Adebayo, who later escaped custody, was arrested at a robbery scene in Ekute, Ado Ekiti, where he confessed to being a kidnapper and implicated other members of the gang, including Jimoh Dele and Bunmi Ogunremi.
He told the court that the remaining defendants were arrested at different locations, while a search conducted at Jimoh Dele’s residence led to the recovery of four locally made single-barrel guns, 13 live cartridges and other exhibits concealed in a sack.
The prosecution, led by Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, called two witnesses and tendered the defendants’ confessional statements, a certificate of compliance, the recovered firearms, a video disc and a medical report from Afe Babalola University Multi-System Hospital, among other exhibits.
Delivering judgment, Justice Olatawura held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. He described the defendants as persons of grave criminal disposition, noting that the confessional statements of the first, second and third defendants showed they were serial kidnappers, armed robbers and house breakers, while the fourth defendant, Bunmi Ogunremi, was an ex-convict.
The court sentenced all four defendants to 21 years imprisonment each for conspiracy. Jimoh Dele was additionally sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and fined ₦20,000 for illegal possession of firearms, while the remaining defendants were discharged and acquitted on that count.
On the charges of kidnapping and murder, Justice Olatawura sentenced the four convicts to death by hanging.
“The sentence of this court upon all the defendants is that they be hanged by the neck until they are dead. May God have mercy on your souls,” the judge ruled.
He ordered that the sentences run concurrently.