A 47-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Muyideen Tunji, his friends, Yusuf Muslim (48yrs), and Rabiu Fatai (55 years) have been sentenced to death by hanging by an Osun State High Court sitting in Iwo, over the murder of a 53-year-old widow for money ritual.
The Nation recalled that the trio were arraigned before the court presided over by Justice Fatimah Sodamade on January 31, 2022, on a three-count charge of conspiracy, murder, and unlawful possession of human parts, contrary to Sections 324, 319(a), and 329A(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume 2, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
Meanwhile, the convicts pleaded not guilty to the charges pressed against them by the Osun State Government.
At the trial, the prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice, Barrister Dele Akintayo, informed the court that Tunji invited the deceased, Asiata Yekeen (a widow), to his residence in Ile-Ogbo under the pretext of paying her money he owed.
Akintayo stated that, upon Asiata’s arrival, she met Yusuf Muslim and Rabiu Fatai in the house. They strangled her shortly after she arrived at the house, dismembered her body, and buried the remains in a shallow grave behind Tunji’s house after severing vital body parts.
He continued, “The case was reported to the police and the Amotekun Corps in Ile-Ogbo by Mr. Suleiman Akorede and Yekini Suleiman when efforts to reach the deceased failed. Witnesses who saw the deceased enter Tunji’s house, who is an Okada rider, also alerted security operatives.
“Subsequently, Tunji fled upon learning that security operatives were searching for him and hid at the residence of Yusuf Muslim and Rabiu Fatai, allegedly taking some human body parts of the deceased along with him.”
Meanwhile, the defence counsel to the three convicts, Barrister J.D. Olaniyan, Adesina Olaniyan, and Bayo Alade, argued that the prosecution’s evidence was hearsay and urged the court to dismiss the charge against their clients.
But, State Counsel, Akintayo called six witnesses and tendered 13 exhibits, including the convicts’ confessional statements.
In her judgment, Justice Sodamade held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and found the defendants guilty on all counts.
The convicts were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder, death by hanging for murder, and five years’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of human parts.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
