Okada rider to die by hanging for death of 11-year-old girl in Ondo

By Boye Oyeyemi –

An Akure High Court has sentenced a commercial motorcycle rider, Mr Dare Ojo, following his conviction over the abuse and death of 11-year-old Zainab Adeyemo along the Ese/Irun-Akoko Road in the Akoko North-West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Ojo was accused of committing the offence on July 17, 2020, while transporting the girl to the market at Irun-Akoko. Zainab’s mother had called him, her regular rider, to take her daughter from Ese-Akoko to the market.

When Zainab did not arrive at the market, her parents contacted her mother’s colleagues and later reached out to Ojo, who claimed he had dropped her off safely. A community search eventually located the girl’s body in a bush.

In delivering the verdict, Justice Yemi Fasanmi said the accused was guilty based on findings from a pathologist at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, and testimony from police investigators who were guided to the scene by Ojo.

Justice Fasanmi noted that although there were no eyewitnesses, he applied the Doctrine of Last Seen, as Ojo was the last person known to have seen Zainab alive. Ojo’s lawyer pleaded for leniency, and the defendant asked for mercy.

The court sentenced Ojo to life imprisonment for the abuse offence under Section 31(1), (2), and (3) of the Ondo State Child’s Rights Law, 2007, and to death by hanging for the killing under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap 37, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo, 2006.

Following the judgement, prosecution counsel Afolabi Victory Bolanle of the State Ministry of Justice and the Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence said:

“The accused was charged under the Child’s Rights Law, 2007, and the Criminal Code, 2006. The case, initially filed in 2020 and reopened in 2023, involved six witnesses, and the defendant did not present any. Today, justice has been served for the deceased, her family, and the state. I commend the prosecution team for their dedication throughout the case.”