.To die by hanging
An Ikeja High Court yesterday sentenced a 33-year-old student of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Allen Abiodun, to death by hanging.
Abiodun was found guilty of killing his younger brother, Allen Wale, in 2013.
But after his arrest, Abiodun had told his interrogators that Wale was his enemy.
He said: “My younger brother has been threatening to kill me for the past two years now and I am happy I have finally killed my enemy.”
Abiodun’s conviction yesterday came six years after he stabbed Wale to death with a broken bottle.
He was found guilty and convicted for murder contrary to Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
The state prosecutor, O. R. Ahmed-Muil, who had earlier called four witnesses against the convict, said Abiodun was arraigned on February 20, 2013 for killing his brother, Wale, at Imude village, Oto-Awori. Ahmed-Muil told the court that the convict attacked his younger brother with a broken bottle, stabbed him several times at the right side of his neck, dragged his body inside the bush and covered it with leaves.
However, the landlord of the convict and the second prosecution witness (PW2), Sunday Abogunrin, had testified that Abiodun was a troublesome fellow who fought his siblings at any slight provocation.
Abogunrin, a building contractor, told the court that he caught the convict dragging Wale’s body into the bush after he had killed him.
He said: “I know the defendant because I live close to their residence. I have known the defendant since his childhood and his entire family.
“On 20th February, 2013, about 1-2a.m, I heard dogs barking. Initially, people around were afraid to come out to clarify what was irritating the dogs for fear of robbers but later on they all came out, including me.
“I later went out to investigate the cause of the noise. But I noticed someone dragging something into the nearby bush. I initially wanted to raise the alarm but instead, I put my torch on and the person ran off towards the defendant’s house.
“I immediately followed to see who it was only to meet the defendant washing his hands, covered in blood, near the well. I quickly alerted the Baale of the community, who then ordered the youth to apprehend him.”
The PW2 further said that the convict also broke his sister’s hand and smacked his other brother’s head while attempting to escape when the community youths came to apprehend him.
“He was finally apprehended by the help of some Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members who intervened and they took him to the Baale’s palace,” he said.
Also ASP Uthman Lamidi (PW4), the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), from Ilemba Hausa Police Station, stated that he was on duty when the report about the incident was lodged at his station.
Lamidi said that he and his team immediately went to the Baale’s palace, arrested the convict there and went with him to the crime scene.
The IPO added that at the scene, he saw Wale’s body and upon interrogation the convict admitted killing his younger brother with a broken bottle and was about to go and bury the corpse when he was intercepted.
He said: “I handcuffed the defendant and took him away.
“The defendant followed me willingly and confessed killing his younger brother. His confession was read over to him and he signed it while I countersigned. In the course of investigation, we also discovered that the defendant had threatened to kill his late brother several times before actually doing it that day.”
Meanwhile, the convict, in his defence, claimed that the deceased was not his biological brother and but admitted killing him. In one part of his confessional statement, he said, “I am a student of the University of Abuja. The deceased is not my biological brother because his father had worked for my father. I have five siblings (four brothers and a sister). My mother’s name is Rita Allen and she is from China. My parents are Chinese. The deceased is not related to me”. However, in the other part, he wrote: “The deceased is my younger brother. I was in the parlour sleeping, at exactly midnight, when he (deceased) came to my room and pointed torchlight on my face.
“He told me that he would kill me if I was not careful of him. He kept threatening me until I got up angrily, took a bottle and stabbed him on his right neck. He fell down, I went to him and told him that he would bleed and die, which he eventually did.
“When he died, I dragged his body to a nearby bush to bury it.
I hid his corpse and covered it with leaves so that no one could see it. I then went back home and washed off the blood stains on my hand.”
Following his confessional statement and the evidence of other prosecution witnesses, Justice Raliatu Adebiyi sentenced Abiodun to death. Adebiyi said that the prosecution had proven its case of murder beyond reasonable doubt against the defendant. While delivering her judgement, she said: “The defendant is hereby found guilty and convicted of the murder of his brother, Allen Wale.
“You, Allen Abiodun, is hereby sentenced to death. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on you.”