An Ondo State High Court, in Akure, today sentenced one Seidu Adeyemi to death by hanging for killing his girlfriend, Khafijat Oluboyo.
Khafijat, who was a daughter of a former deputy governor of the state, Lasisi Oluboyo, was reportedly killed by the convict at his house in July 2018.
The convict reportedly buried her in his room for five days; until his father discovered found out and reported to the police.
The convict was subsequently arrested and arraigned on two counts of conspiracy and murder.
During the trial, the convict claimed that he was not the actual killer of the deceased, saying that his two friends killed her.
He said he was asked to bring a digger and a shovel to dig the floor and bury his late girlfriend after she had been killed.
He also claimed that the supposed killers, whom he could not identify, warned him not to tell anybody lest he be killed.
One of the witnesses, a pathologist, Dr. Olumuyiwa Pelemo, told the court that the result of the autopsy conducted on the deceased indicated that she had several injuries on her body which led to her death.
The pathologist added that there was “an abnormal shaving of the hair on the deceased’s head and the pubic region”.
Another witness, a brother of the convict, testified that the family got wind of the killing when the convict confessed to him that Khadijat was dead and buried in his room.
The witness confessed that the convict pleased with him to get a sack to dispose of the corpse, but he chose to inform their father who ordered him to report the matter to the police.
The convict’s father, Seidu Siyanbola, a bricklayer, corroborated his younger son’s testimony while testifying in court, saying that he knew deceased as his son’s girlfriend and that they were in the relationship for three years.
He stated that his son confessed to him that some men had killed the deceased and buried her inside his room; and that the same men threatened to wipe out his family if he told anyone.
Justice Samuel Bola said it was established, through the autopsy report, that the deceased did not die a natural death.
He said the court did not believe the defendant’s claim that two men killed the deceased and he was asked to bury her in his room, without informing the police.
He said the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased was intentionally killed by the convict.
The judge thereafter sentenced him to death by hanging.
The judge ruled: “You, Seidu Adeyemi, are hereby sentenced to death by hanging. May God have mercy on your soul.”
