3 Get Death Sentences In Kwara For Raping, Killing Unilorin Student

The Kwara state High Court, Ilorin  on Tuesday awarded death sentences to three among the eight people that had faced trial for rape and murder in the state capital since last year.

They were convicted of rape and murder.

It will be recalled that the convicts were arrested last year in connection with the  killing  of  Olajide Blessing Omowunmi on June 2, 2021.

24-year-old Omowunmi, was until her death, a student at the University of Ilorin.

Omowunmi , an indigene of Oke-Opin, Ekiti Local Government, Kwara state,  who  was living with her elder sister, Dr. Dupe Shittu in the Tanke area  of Ilorin ,was a student at the Department of Agricultural Science, University of Ilorin.

The accused had faced  charges bordering on armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and rape.

Justice Ibrahim Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara state High Court, Ilorin  ruled that the three convicts were found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to murder.

‘The first, second and third defendants who are the main culprits were found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to murder.

They were accordingly sentenced to death. That’s maximum. There’s no discretion for the court to exercise by virtue of provision of the armed robbery Act, it’s death penalty.  So also by virtue of section 221 of the penal code, it’s death sentence for culpable homicide. So, they were accordingly sentenced to death.

Although, the third defendant, who was also convicted of rape was sentenced to life imprisonment, but it’s neither here nor there. When somebody is condemned, the life imprisonment does not ameliorate anything. 

With respect to the fourth and fifth defendants, they were found guilty of conspiracy to steal and making illegal withdrawals from   the bank account of the deceased. You know, after killing her, they took her ATM card, Sim card and her phone. They changed her password, through instrumentality of the fourth and fifth defendants, who are experts in computer manipulation, collected some money through transfer, totaling about N149,000.

They were convicted of conspiracy and stealing/theft. They were accordingly sentenced to three years imprisonment to run concurrently. For conspiracy, one year, for main offence three years, commencing from the date of their arrest. They’ve spent about one and half years already in custody.

The other three: sixth, seventh and eighth escaped by whiskers. They are very lucky. If you look at their involvement, they only assisted to dispose of stolen property .

The irony of it all is that all those involved are very young people between the ages of 19 and  23 .  It’s quite unfortunate. And that tells us that we have to work on our future in this country’  former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, who  was the Prosecution Counsel, told  journalists including  Team@orientactualmags.com after the court sitting ended.

The eight people that had stood  trial for murder are ; Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin (aka Jacklord), Oyeyemi Timileyin Omogbolahan, Abdulkarim Shuaib (aka Easy), Kareem Oshioyemi Rasheed (Rashworld), Abdullateef Abdulrahman, Daud Bashir Adebayo (aka Bashman) and Akande Taiye Oladoja, 

It will  be recalled that the Kwara state Police Command had confirmed the gruesome killing of Omowunmi  on June 2, 2021.

Three of the defendants; Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin (aka Jacklord) and Oyeyemi Timileyin Omogbolahan, were said to have  attacked Omowunmi at her residence  and they had carried dangerous  weapons including a black wooden pistol gun.

  Olajide Gloria Blessing Omowumi also known as ‘Wumi’  had   surrendered  her Samsung Galaxy A2 Core handset  at gunpoint and they also carted away other items, including one black Acer aspire, one series laptop, one Samsung drive, one pink wireless mouse, one white handheld mini sewing machine, one infinix charger and one gold colour win touch tab .

The prosecution also accused five others of aiding and abetting having helped to create a ready market for  the stolen items  that include the Samsung Galaxy A2 Core handset and some other computer gadgets which were proceeds of armed robbery.

Abdulazeez Ismail, Kareem Oshioyemi Rasheed and Abdulkarim Shuaib were also accused of  making illegal withdrawals from Omowunmi’s GTB account -Team@orientactualmags.com
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