A court in Osun State, today, May 30, 2023, sentenced Rahman Adedoyin, owner of the Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Ile-Ife, Osun State, to death by hanging for the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), in 2021.
Oyebola Ojo, the Osun State chief judge, gave the ruling after the hotelier was found guilty in the case, which has been ongoing since Adegoke, a master’s degree student, was declared missing and his body later found in a bush two years sgo.
Adedoyin was sentenced to death alongside two others who were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The police arrested Adedoyin and six other suspects said to be staffers of the hotel where the deceased lodged.
Reports said Adegoke travelled from Abuja to Ife to take his exams at a distance learning centre of OAU in Moro, Osun State, on November 5, 2021.
He lodged in Adedoyin’s Hilton Hotel. He went missing a day after his arrival, presumably murdered in the hotel.
In the ruling, Justice Ojo also ordered the forfeiture of the hotel and the vehicle used to convey the body to the bush.
He equally ordered Adedoyin to pay the school fees of the two children of the deceased.
In March 2022, Waheed Oluogun, consultant pathologist at Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, told the court that Adegoke died from severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.
“While exhuming the body, it was found to be completely wrapped in a blood-stained duvet without exposing any part of the body,” Oluogun had said.
“It was found in a supine position with two different ropes, one around the neck, the other one around the ankles.
“There were maggots found around the left side of the head up to the entire left upper limb. The body was taken to the mortuary section of UNIOSUN Teaching hospital, Osogbo.
“The body was identified by his brother, Adegoke Olugbade. At our teaching hospital, we planned for postmortem examination to know the cause of death. On November 22, 2021, seven pathologists came for the examination.”
At the time of the discovery of the corpse, controversy raged over Adedoyin’s involvement in the murder. There were allegations and counter-allegation that Adegoke’s killing was a case of ritual murder, kidnapping or robbery gone wrong.
The hotelier was later indicted in the course of investigations.
