The Chief Judge of Osun State, Justice Oyebola Ojo, has sentenced the owner of Hilton Hotel Ile-Ife, Dr. Rahman Adedoyin to death by hanging over the murder of a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Timothy Adegoke, in 2021.
The judge found Adedoyin guilty of culpable homicide in the ongoing trial of the convict and other accused persons in Osogbo.
Adedoyin, who also owns Oduduwa University, was dragged to court by the police after Adegoke’s death between November 5 and 7, 2021, at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife.
The postgraduate student was said to have traveled from Abuja to write an exam at a distance learning centre of OAU in Moro, Osun state, on November 5.
He was declared missing after two days and later found dead.
Adedoyin and six other suspects who worked in his hotel were later arrested by the police and charged to court over the matter.
Delivering judgement on the case today, May 30, Justice Ojo held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while he was a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
The judge stated that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box did not help him, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof on him.
Justice Ojo added that Adedoyin’s refusal to testify meant he agreed to the murder charge brought against him by the prosecution, dismissing the alibi pleaded on his behalf by his counsel, who stated that the hotel owner was in Abuja for several days around the time of the late Adegoke’s death.
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