A lecturer at the College of Health Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Ondo State High Court for armed robbery.
The defendant, Shittu Isiaka, was found guilty on a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery by the presiding judge, Justice O. M. Adejumo.
On the third count, the court acquitted and discharged Isiaka for allegedly endangering the life or health of the victim. The judge ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt.
The defendant was first arraigned before the court on November 26, 2018, on a three-count charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and endangering life.
According to the prosecution, the defendant and other suspects still at large, in 2017, robbed a commercial driver, Olatunji Olowoyeye, of his Nissan Cabstar truck with registration number XJ 214 KTU at gunpoint along Ibuji on the Akure–Ilesha Motorway.
While informing the court that the victim was brought into Ogbara Oke by highway patrol officers of the Nigeria Police, it said a police witness, Inspector Kehinde Omotosho, reported that the victim wrote a statement implicating the defendant.
During the trial, the defendant denied all the allegations, insisting that he had no involvement in the robbery.
In his ruling, Justice Adejumo held that the prosecution failed to establish the offence of endangering life as required under Section 135(1) of the Evidence Act.
