An Ondo State Chief Magistrate’s Court in Akure yesterday remanded three persons over alleged involvement in the killing of a 36-year-old farmer, Sunday Ayeni.

The suspects, Abdullah Tumbi, 59; Mohamodu Bonkolo, 50; and Shagari Muhammed, 45, were remanded at the Olokuta correctional centre after they were charged with two counts of conspiracy and murder.

Ayeni was macheted to death on his farm on August 10, a few days after receiving financial compensation for the destruction of his crops by the cows of a herder that grazed on his farm in Uba Oka-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Council of Ondo State.

The Chief Magistrate, A. Akinboboye, who did not take the pleas of the defendants, ordered their remand pending the advice of the state’s Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The Police Prosecutor, Folashade Adeyemi, informed the court that the defendants and others at large committed the offence at Afiri Camp, Oka-Akoko. According to the prosecution, the defendants allegedly conspired with others at large to kill Ayeni.

The charge reads: “That you, Abdullah Halilu Tumbi, Mohamodu Adamu Bonkolo, and Shagari Muhammed, and others at large, did stab one Ayeni Sunday, ‘m’, during a clash with him on his farm with a sharp cutlass in his stomach, which eventually led to his death.”

According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened Sections 316, 319, and 324 of the Criminal Code Law of Ondo State, 2006. She urged the court to remand the defendants at any correctional centre in the state pending advice from the DPP’s office.

Magistrate Akinboboye subsequently ordered that the case file be duplicated and sent to the DPP’s office. The case was adjourned to December for mention.