An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, has issued a death sentence by hanging for armed robbery to two individuals.
The court, in the judgment delivered on Tuesday, also imposed a seven-year term of incarceration each for conspiracy on the two defendants – 37-year-old Kehinde Adejuwon and a 35-year-old former inmate, Dayo Adeniyi.
The two defendants were tried and deemed guilty of robbing Ado Ekiti residents of their possessions, including two vehicles, a laptop computer, phones, bags of rice, yam tubers, and cash.
They were arraigned on February 14, 2023, on five counts relating to conspiracy, armed robbery, and stealing. The charge detailed that Adejuwon and Adeniyi, on January 4, 2022, and January 1, 2023, while wielding a gun and a cutlass, conspired to steal N100,000 and a UBA ATM card, properties of one Adeowo Aderonke.
The charge further added that the defendants also “stole from one Ojo Adeniyi his Toyota Highlander Jeep, one bag of rice, five tubers of yam and N156,000”.
It also stated that “they dispossessed one Emmanuel Adebajo Gbenga of his Toyota Camry car, laptop computer, six phones and N60,000”. It also stipulated that “the offences contravene Section 302(4)(a), 312(2)(a) and 421 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021”.
One of the victims, Emmanuel Adebajo, in his testimony before the court, stated that “Myself, my wife and our three children were returning from church around 2 am on New Year Day, when we reached the gate of our house and were about to enter, I suddenly saw three persons emerge from nowhere and armed with guns and cutlasses.
“We were commanded to come down from the car, they seized the car from me at gunpoint, alongside my laptop, six different phones, a bunch of keys and a sum of N60,000, all valued at N376,000.” The victim, who said that he reported the matter to the police, added, “I later contacted the engineer, who installed a tracker in the car. After a relentless effort, the car was tracked to Offa, Kwara State, alongside the defendants.
“They were first transferred to Ilorin in the Kwara State Police Command. The policemen notified the Ekiti State Command and later brought them to Ado Ekiti. The car was returned to me,” he said.
The prosecutor, Olasanmi Oluwaseun, presented three witnesses and tendered exhibits, while the defendants, who spoke through their lawyer, Lawrence Fasanmi, did not call any witnesses.
In his judgment, Justice Olalekan Olatawura said, “I note that in the 2nd defendant’s confessional statement, he described himself as an ex-convict. One would have thought that after his time in prison, he ought to have reformed, instead, he escalated his criminal acts and advanced from being a phone thief to an armed robber. “I have given consideration to the plea of the defendants for leniency. Unfortunately, the punishment for the offence of armed robbery is mandatory. I therefore have no discretion to exercise on that.
“Consequently, on Count One (Conspiracy), the defendants are sentenced to seven years imprisonment each, while on Count Two (Armed Robbery), the sentence of this court is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead, may God have mercy on your soul,” the judge declared.
In October, the court sentenced a 27-year-old man, Alex Peter, to life imprisonment for armed robbery. Peter was also handed nine years for the offence of conspiracy.
He was arraigned on December 29, 2022, on two counts of conspiracy and armed robbery.
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