Togolese chef bags life jail term for killing boss

An Igbosere High Court in Lagos yesterday sentenced a Togolese cook, Sunday Anani, to life imprisonment for the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Ltd, Chief Ope Bademosi. The incident happened in October 31, 2018 in Bademosi’s Ikoyi, Lagos residence.

Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile yesterday convicted Anani following his plea of guilty to a one-count charge of voluntary manslaughter. While confirming that he was the person caught on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) fleeing the scene of the crime after the murder, Anani also confessed that he stabbed Bademosi to death in his home, while trying to rob him.

Before the sentencing, the judge asked Anani’s counsel, director of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Mrs. Aderenra Adeyemi, if the cook, who spoke only French, had an allocutus. Allocutus is a plea made in criminal trials to mitigate the sentence or punishment on a convicted person.

Adeyemi had prayed that Anani be given a sentence of years given that he is a young man who has not committed any crime before, but the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Titilayo Shitta-Bey, opposed the prayer.

Shitta-Bey said: “We urge this court to grant the maximum sentence for the offence of voluntary manslaughter act as charged. The defendant was employed into the home of his boss, entrusted with a high level of responsibilities as a cook. Barely three days after resumption, the defendant cut short the life of a man that gave him a new lease of life, depriving him the privilege of enjoying life with his wife and children.

“Judicial notice must be taken of the fact that this act of violence by domestic employees against their employers is becoming rampant.

The sentence must reflect that this conduct is unacceptable to our society to serve as a deterrent to others of likeminds like the defendant.”

Following their submissions, Justice Okikiolu-Ighile passed judgment. Anani was originally arraigned on a two-count charge of murder and armed robbery, which could have fetched him a death sentence by hanging on conviction, but he struck a plea bargain deal with the Lagos State government soon after the trial commenced.