Murder: Court discharges, acquits 7 suspects
An Ado-Ekiti High Court on Monday set free all the seven suspects standing trial in the murder of a former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye. The defendants, who were discharged and acquitted by the court presided over by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, are Adebayo Aderiye, Adeniyi Adedipe, Sola […]
An Ado-Ekiti High Court on Monday set free all the seven suspects standing trial in the murder of a former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye.
The defendants, who were discharged and acquitted by the court presided over by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, are Adebayo Aderiye, Adeniyi Adedipe, Sola Durodola, Kayode Ajayi, Oso Farotimi, Sola Adenijo and Rotimi Olanbiwonnu, who are all members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The NURTW chief, who was a strong loyalist of Governor Ayodele Fayose, was killed at his private motor park in Ijigbo, Ado-Ekiti, on September 25, 2014 and the case had been in court since November of the same year.
In delivering his judgment, the trial judge, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, held that the prosecution failed to prove the complicity of the accused persons in the murder of Aderiye, adding that the prosecution failed to prove both the count of conspiracy to kill the late Aderiye and that of murder against all the seven defendants.
Ogunmoye held that the case of the prosecution was not helped by contradictory evidence by its witnesses, which he said the court wouldn’t believe.
The judge, for instance, faulted the evidence of the first prosecution witness, Adewale Ibidapo, that one Adesokan Adedeji Israel emerged from a Golf car and shot sporadically into the air before firing the shot that killed the late transporter.
Ogunmoye argued, “It is inconceivable that amidst sporadic gunshots, the witness would be able to observe the purported killer(s), as what would be in his mind was how to escape from the scene, hence the court won’t believe Ibidapo’s evidence.”
He also faulted the evidence given by the third prosecution witness, Gbolahan Okeowo, who he said gave what he described as “mutually contradictory” evidence.
The judge ruled, “Inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses have created a doubt. Where two or more witnesses give contradictory evidence, it will be illogical to believe their testimony.” None of the alibi raised by the defendants was investigated by the police. The evidence of the prosecution failed to bring down the evidence of the defendants. The plea of evidence succeeds that the accused were not at the scene of the crime.