Two sentenced to death over farm worker’s murder in Ondo

By Boye Oyeyemi

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced two men, Emmanuel Sunday and Oluwaseyi Adeyemi, to death by hanging for the robbery and killing of a farm labourer in Idanre Local Government Area.

The convicts were prosecuted on charges of conspiracy, armed robbery and murder following the death of John Edet during an attack in June 2021.

During the trial, a farmer, Samson Olayiwola, told the court that he was heading to his farm at Ori-Okuta in Aseigbo when he saw one of the defendants riding a motorcycle.

Olayiwola said he later arrived at the farm and found Edet severely injured and lying in his own blood after suffering machete cuts.

According to the witness, the victim disclosed before his death that armed robbers had attacked him and made away with his motorcycle.

He further testified that Edet identified the two defendants as his attackers before he died in hospital, adding that the motorcycle ridden by the first defendant was the one stolen from the deceased.

In his judgment, Justice William Olamide held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and established the involvement of the defendants in the crimes.

The judge subsequently sentenced both men to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy and ordered that they be hanged for the offences of armed robbery and murder.