By Stephen Gbadamosi, Ibadan
The Court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo State Division, has upheld the death sentence passed on an Ile-Ife, Osun State-based popular hotelier, Dr. Rahman Adedoyin, over his involvement in the murder of a former Master’s degree student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OSU), Ile-Ife, Timothy Adegoke.
Thirty-seven-year-old Adegoke was gruesomely murdered in November 2021 while lodging in Adedoyin’s Hilton Hotel and Resort.
His body was to be found in a shallow grave at a location very close to the hotel.
An Osun State High Court which heard the case had, on May 30, 2023, sentenced Adedoyin and his staff, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, to death by hanging for Adegoke’s murder.
The High Court judgment was appealed by Adedoyin.
But the Court of Appeal, while delivering judgment on the appeal on Thursday, January 23, affirmed the earlier judgment of the State High Court.
The Court of Appeal, which had reserved judgment on the matter on October 29, 2024, declared in its judgment that: “The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part.”
The appellate court held that Adedoyin was properly convicted and sentenced to death.
It, however, set aside some aspects of the lower court’s judgment.
“The order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel is quashed and set aside. The order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others are quashed and set aside,” the court ruled.