A Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has sentenced a driver, Andrew Nice Ominikoron, to death by hanging.
Ominikoron, a driver of the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), was sentenced to death for killing Bamise Ayanwola, a 22-year-old fashion designer.
Hon. Justice Sherifat Sonaike, the trial judge, gave the verdict on Friday.
Ominikoron and others now at large were accused of conspiring, raping and killed Bamise.
In February 2022, Bamise entered a BRT bus but never got to her destination.
Security operatives later found her naked body by the roadside.
The driver of the BRT she boarded was eventually arrested and charged to court for murder.
The driver, Ominikoron, pleaded not guilty but he has now been convicted and sentenced to death.
In March 2022, Ominikoron, 47, was arraigned by the Lagos State Government on four counts charge bordering on alleged rape, conspiracy sexual assault and murder.
According to the charge, the murder occurred on February 26, 2022, at about 7pm near the Lekki-Ajah Conservation Expressway, Lagos.
The prosecution said Ominikoron conspired with others now at large and forcefully had sexual intercourse with Bamise after which he murdered her. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the offence.
However, the convict, while giving his testimony during trial earlier, told the court that he illegally picked up Bamise at the Chevron bus stop on a return trip to Oshodi after he had off-loaded passengers on the Oshodi-Ajah route at around 8pm that day.
