An Osun State High Court sitting in Iwo has sentenced three men to death by hanging over the killing of a woman and unlawful possession of human body parts.
The convicts — Muideen Tunji, Yusuf Musulimi, and Rabiu Fatai — were found guilty on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, and unlawful possession of human parts.
Delivering judgement, the presiding judge, Fatimah Sodamade, ruled that the prosecution established its case beyond reasonable doubt. She therefore pronounced the defendants guilty on all counts.
Sodamade added that the ruling should send a strong warning to individuals who may contemplate similar offences.
Earlier, the prosecuting counsel from the Osun State Ministry of Justice, Dele Akintayo, told the court that the crime occurred on January 31, 2022, at Ile-Ogbo in the state.
According to him, one of the convicts lured the victim, Asiata Yekeen, to his residence under the pretext of paying an outstanding debt.
He said the two other convicts later joined him. They conspired and murdered the woman after she arrived.
The prosecutor further explained that family members of the deceased, alongside operatives of the Amotekun Corps, searched for her without success. The case later took a turn when a witness who saw the victim enter the suspects’ apartment alerted the police.
Akintayo said the suspects fled in an attempt to avoid arrest. Police intelligence operatives later tracked and apprehended them.
He told the court that the offences violated sections 324, 319(a), and 329A(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 34, Vol. II, Laws of Osun State, 2002.
Defence counsel — J. Olaniyan, Adesina Olaniyan, and Bayo Alade — urged the court to dismiss the charges. They argued that the evidence presented by the prosecution was based on hearsay.
The court, however, rejected the defence’s arguments and upheld the death sentence passed on the three convicts.
