Court verdicts over OAU student’s death underscore equality before the law

Osun State High Court in Osogbo, last week, imposed the maximum penalty on the proprietor of Hilton Hotel and Resort in Ile-Ife, Dr. Rahmon Adedoyin, and two of his staff for the death of Timothy Adegoke, a post-graduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in 2021. Adedoyin, Adeniyi Aderogba and Kazeem Oyetunde were sentenced to die by hanging.

The court discharged three other members of the hotel’s staff – Oluwole Lawrence, Adebayo Kunle and Adedeji Adesola – from the charges, and sentenced a seventh defendant and also hotel staff, Magdalene Chiefuna, to two-year prison term.

Presided over by Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo, the court found Adedoyin and three of his staff guilty of murder and conspiracy, and held that circumstantial evidence available to it pointed to unlawful killing of Adegoke. The judge said the court established that the deceased lodged at Hilton Hotel owned by Adedoyin and paid into the account of one of the defendants, and dismissed a second autopsy report signed by two pathologists from Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital as “a report by persons with vested interest.”

Adedoyin and other accused persons got in the law’s firing line following the death of Adegoke between November 5 and 7, 2021, at Hilton Hotel, with the hotel management attempting to cover up the death by illegally disposing of the body. Adegoke was in the ancient city from his Abuja base on November 5 and had checked into Hilton to enable him make it early to the OAU Distance Learning Centre, Moro campus, for his examinations scheduled for November 6 and 7. He had told his family he would be staying at the hotel where he usually lodged whenever he went for his academic pursuits at OAU, but was declared missing on November 7, after his classmates reported that he failed to show up in class at the Moro distance learning centre. The hotel repeatedly denied the deceased lodged with it until facts proving that he checked in emerged. His body was found dumped in a grave following police investigation and arrest of some suspects, including Hilton workers. The proprietor, Adedoyin, was also pulled in for questioning.

The hotel was under the oversight of Adedoyin’s son, Raheem Adedoyin, who with two other suspects is presently at large. In the course of trial, Chiefuna recounted to the court that Adegoke’s lifeless body was found in a room in the hotel but the management decided to conceal that discovery and also bound staff members, including herself, to an oath of secrecy. According to Chiefuna, an undergraduate of OAU who worked as a receptionist at the hotel to support herself financially, the room in which Adegoke lodged was locked when she took over duty shift on November 6, 2021, and she had cause to go knock on the door several times when Adegoke wasn’t seen, but there was no response. Eventually, she had to use a spare key to open Adegoke’s room before she discovered his body lying on the floor and wrapped in a duvet.

Chiefuna told the court, among other things, that after the hotel manager, Aderogba (third defendant) went into the room and confirmed that Adegoke’s body was lifeless, Raheem Adedoyin summoned her and other hotel workers on duty and administered an oath of confidentiality with the holy books on them to the effect that no one would divulge that a dead body was found in the hotel room. She said the oath was administered, according to Raheem, to protect the name and image of the hotel; and that the hotel proprietor and his son directed her to delete photographs of the hotel’s record book taken during her duty that day from her phone. Chiefuna said she obliged because they were her employers.

Justice Ojo said Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box meant he agreed to the murder charge pressed against him by the prosecution, and dismissed the alibi pleaded by counsel on his behalf that the hotel owner was away in Abuja for many days at the time Adegoke’s death occurred. Besides the sentences imposed on the accused persons, the judge ordered forfeiture of the hotel and the Hilux bus used to convey the deceased to the dumping ground. She also ordered that the education of Adegoke’s two children be funded from Adedoyin’s estate.

Much as we do not endorse capital punishment by itself, we applaud the court’s verdicts as bold and forthright in dealing level-handed justice against the accused persons in favour of a hapless and vulnerable victim. Considering the socio-economic status of one of the convicts, the verdicts entrench equality before the law and teaches a lesson against impunity by the upper class. They as well underscore the dispassion of Lady Justice in moderating class conflict within society. The courage of her lordship deserves applause.

Besides, the relative succour provided the victim’s family with the stipulation of scholarship for his children is highly commendable. It must be noted though that these verdicts were handed down by only the trial court and the convicts yet have the right of appeal, at which stage it is hoped justice would not be compromised. No amount of death sentences dealt accused persons can bring Adegoke back, but his family can at least find closure.

•PHOTO:Photo combination of late OAU student,Timothy Adegoke and the proprietor of Hilton Hotel and Resort in Ile-Ife, Dr. Rahmon Adedoyin