The Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State has upheld the death sentence of a hotelier, Ramon Adedoyin concerning the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a former Master’s student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
The appellate court in its verdict on Thursday, affirmed the decision of the Osun State High Court which earlier convicted Adedoyin and sentenced him to death.
Adegoke lodged at Adedoyin’s Hilton Hotels and Resorts in Ile-Ife, Osun State upon his arrival from Abuja on November 5, 2021, to enable him to arrive early for his examination at the OAU Distance Learning Centre, Moro, in the state, on November 6 and 7, 2021.
He later went missing and following an investigation by the police, his remains were found buried in a shallow grave.
“The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part. The Court of Appeal held that Adedoyin was properly convicted and sentenced to death,” the appellate court’s judgement read.
It further noted that the “Order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel quashed and set aside. Order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others quashed and set aside.”
Adegoke was found dead in November 2021 at Adedoyin’s Hilton Honours Hotel, Ile-Ife, where he (the deceased) had lodged.
On January 29, 2022, the late 37-year-old Master of Business Administration student was buried beside the house he built for his parents in the New Eruwa part of Eruwa town, the Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State.
He was mourned by family members, friends and beneficiaries.
His widow, Bolatito, wept uncontrollably and refused to leave the graveside despite pleas that she should step aside.
In March same year, Afeez Olaniyan, the Investigative Police Officer who undertook the first probe into Adegoke’s death, narrated how some defendants arraigned in connection with the deceased’s death, evacuated and dumped his (Adegoke’s) corpse in the bush.
Being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, M. Omosun, during the continuation of the trial, Olaniyan said from the statement extracted from two of the staffers of the Hilton Hotels–Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, after the death of the late Adegoke, his corpse was wrapped with a duvet, and taken out in a Hilux van driven by the son of the hotel owner, Roheem Adedoyin, to where it was dumped.
A consultant pathologist at the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Dr Waheed Oluogun, said Adegoke’s death was caused by severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.
