Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi of an Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division has sentenced one Ismaila Ojo to death by hanging for strangulating his friend, Kareem Adu, over a motorcycle.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Tunde Arowosola, had told the court Ojo committed the crime on May 13, 2018. He said the wife of the deceased, Agnes Adu, had come to the station to report that her husband had been killed at Odo-Uro by one Ismaila Ojo, over an ownership disputation and tussle, in respect of a motorcycle. Arowosola said the woman alleged that the defendant (Ojo) strangulated the deceased.
Also testifying, a policeman, Inspector Lasisi Bashiru, told the court that the accused was arrested and when interrogated, he confessed to the crime that on May 13, 2018, when he was taking his bath, Adu (the deceased) came to take a motorcycle which he parked in front of his house. Bashiru told the court that the accused said that after finishing his bath, he went to Adu’s house and met him sleeping. He said Ojo claimed he did not have any intention of killing the deceased as they merely fought while none of them carried or used any weapon or hard object during the fight.
The judge held that having carefully considered and weighed the evidence before the court proves that the defendant caused the death of the deceased by holding and pressing his neck and throat.
“On the whole, I find the defendant guilty as charged. You (the defendant) are hereby sentenced to be hanged on the neck until you die.”