Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Three sentenced to death for armed robbery

By Silver Nwokoro
16 March 2018   |   4:12 am
An Abeokuta High Court yesterday sentenced three men to death by hanging for armed robbery, conspiracy and rape while the fourth accused, Oguntolu Oludare got 10 years imprisonment for receiving stolen goods.

Court

• Court dismisses N272.5m fraud charge against oil marketer
An Abeokuta High Court yesterday sentenced three men to death by hanging for armed robbery, conspiracy and rape while the fourth accused, Oguntolu Oludare got 10 years imprisonment for receiving stolen goods.

Justice Olatokunbo Majekodumi sentenced Abdulrasak Moshood, Sakiru Osunmuyiwa and Azeez Olonade to death for armed robbery, conspiracy and rape. Delivering judgment, Justice Majekodumi said the court was convinced beyond reasonable doubt the accused committed the offences.

He said: “Having found that the accused persons are guilty as charged, the first, second and third accused shall be hung by the neck until they are dead. May the Lord have mercy on you.”

Moshood , Osunmuyiwa and Olonade were arraigned for robbing one Mr. and Mrs. Kehinde Martins-Thomas. The convicts were also docked for raping the couple’s daughter. The convicts, according to the prosecution, committed the offences on February 5, 2012 at about 1:00a.m. at plot 8-10 Martins-Thomas Crescent, GRA Extension, Ojere, Abeokuta.

The prosecution said the convicts gained access into the house of Martins-Thomas through the window by cutting the burglary proof. The prosecution said the convict tied Martins-Thomas and his wife up and hit the man with the boot of a gun before shoving him into a bathroom.

Meanwhile, a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, has dismissed a two count-charge of stealing and fraud, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against an independent oil marketer, Mr. Anthony Adejugbe and his company, Tonique Oil Services Limited.

In dismissing the charge, the judge, Justice Lateefat Okunnu, held that the prosecution did not bring up substantial evidence to prove its case against the defendants.

The EFCC had on November 13, 2012, arraigned Adejugbe and his company before Justice Okunnu in charges marked ID/198C/2012. The commission had in the charge alleged that the defendants fraudulently obtained the sum of N272,500,000 from a company, Watergate Petroleum and Gas Limited under false pretense of supplying the company five million litres of petroleum.

However, during the pendency of the matter, EFCC called five witnesses and tendered some documents as exhibits, while Adejugbe and Tonique Oil Services Limited equally called five witnesses and also tendered several documents.

The defendants denied the charges however. Justice Okunnu, in dismissing the charge, said: “There is, therefore, reasonable doubt regarding the case of prosecution that the payment in question was intended by the defendants for use in paying off part of the second defendant’s loan. In the event, and by reason of all the foregoing, it is my findings that this is neither a case of stealing, nor one of obtaining by false pretense.”

Reviewing the facts of the case as presented by both parties before the court, Justice Okunnu said the prosecution failed to bring strong evidence enough to show that there was such known fact or even, a whiff of rumour to back their case of alleged fraud against the defendants.

0 Comments