A Lagos prince, Adewale Oyekan, has been sentenced to death by the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja for killing a 62-year-old businesswoman and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaja Sikirat Ekun.
Adewale is the son of the late Oba of Lagos, Adeyinka Oyekan.
Adewale was sentenced alongside a domestic worker, Lateef Balogun, on Monday by Justice Raliat Adebiyi for strangling Ekun and throwing her corpse in a well.
Adewale and Balogun committed the offences around 1am on October 1, 2012, at the deceased’s home at No. 5 Babatunde Ladega Street, Omole Phase I.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased had employed Adewale as the manager of her restaurant, while Balogun was Ekun’s domestic worker.
However, Balogun’s employment was terminated following a dispute with Ekun, which led to a conspiracy between the convicts.
It was gathered that the convicts killed the deceased, threw her corpse in a well in her compound and took over her business and properties, including a bus that was sold for N170,000.
The prosecutor, Akin George, had told the court that when an enquiry was made by Ekun’s family and friends about her whereabouts, Adewale informed them through a text message from the victim’s phone that she had travelled to Abuja for the Eid-el Kabir festival.
He noted that after an intensive search, her corpse was found two months later in December 2012 by well diggers and firefighters, adding that the convicts had placed a generator, gas cylinder and other household items on the corpse in the 1,000 feet well.
Delivering her judgment on Monday, Justice Adebiyi stated that the prosecution had proved the charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder beyond reasonable doubt.
She said, “The circumstantial evidence was strong and cogent; the act of the defendants in killing the deceased was intentional and premeditated.
“The court finds that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the offences of conspiracy and murder, and the defendants are accordingly found guilty of the two counts.
“Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, stipulates the punishment for the offence of murder as follows: ‘Subject to the provisions of any other law, a person who commits the offence of murder shall be sentenced to death’.
“The same is the punishment for conspiracy to commit murder as contained in Section 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, and the above-cited provisions of the law do not give the court any discretion whatsoever in sentencing the defendants.
“For this reason, the first and second defendants are hereby sentenced accordingly on each of counts one and two to death by hanging. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on your souls.”
