A 50-year-old Lagos prince, Adewale Oyekan, and a former domestic servant, Lateef Balogun (27), were on Monday sentenced to death by an Ikeja High Court for the murder of Sikirat Ekun, a 62-year-old businesswoman and politician.

Mr Adewale is the son of Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, Oba of Lagos, who died on March 1, 2003.

The prince hired Mr Balogun for N6,000 to murder Mrs Ekun, according to the prosecution.

The convicts, who have been in custody for seven years, murdered Mrs Ekun by strangling her and throwing her corpse in a 1,000-feet well in her home.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, in a two-hour judgment, held that the prosecution proved the charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder beyond reasonable doubt.

She said: “The circumstantial evidence was strong and cogent; the act of the defendants in killing the deceased was intentional and premeditated.

“The court finds that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the offences of conspiracy and murder, and the defendants are accordingly found guilty of the two-count charge.

“Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, stipulates the punishment for the offence of murder as follows.

“Subject to the provisions of any other law, a person who commits the offence of murder shall be sentenced to death.

“Same is the punishment for conspiracy to commit murder as contained in Section 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

“The above cited provisions of the law does not give the court any discretion whatsoever in sentencing the defendants.

“For this reason, the first and second defendants are hereby sentenced on each of counts one and two, to death by hanging. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on your souls.”

NAN reports that according to the prosecution led by Akin George, the convicts committed the offences at 1.00a.m. on October 17, 2012, at the home of the deceased located at No. 5, Babatunde Lalega St., Omole Phase One, Lagos State.

The prosecution said that the deceased was a restauranteur who knew Mr Oyekan due to her friendship with his late mother.

“To render assistance to the prince, Mrs Ekun employed him as the manager of her restaurant.

“Balogun, the second defendant, was a former domestic staff of Ekun, who was employed by her to take care of her elderly father,” Mr George said.

He submitted that Mr Balogun’s employment was, however, terminated following a dispute with Mrs Ekun.

“The convicts conspired, killed the deceased and threw her corpse in a well within the premises of her home, and took over her businesses and property including a bus which was sold for N170,000.

“When any inquiry was made by family and friends about her whereabouts, Mr Oyekan informed them that she travelled to Abuja for the Ileya (Eid-el Kabir) festival. He passed this information by sending a text message from Mrs Ekun’s mobile phone.

“Following worry from members of Mrs Ekun’s family, and after an extensive search, her corpse was found two months later, in December 2012, by well diggers and firefighters.

“The convicts had placed a generator, a gas cylinder and other household items on the corpse to conceal it in the 1,000 feet well,” he said.

The trial at the High Court began on April 14, 2015.

Five witnesses, including two police officers, a nephew of the deceased, Iyiola Olaniyi; and the only child of the deceased, Mrs Folashade Amurun, testified for the prosecution.

Messrs Oyekan and Balogun testified for the defence.

While testifying, the convicts both denied knowing each other, saying that they met for the first time at a police station. They also denied committing the offences.

Mr Oyekan said that he met Mrs Ekun who was a friend of his mother at a PDP rally in 2011 after he returned from the U.S. where he obtained a degree in Architecture.

He said he met the deceased thereafter at her home where she offered to assist him by employing him to manage her restaurant.

Earlier, before the sentence was passed, defence counsel, O. C. Onwumerie, did not plead for mercy on behalf of his clients.

“I will be leaving sentencing to the hands of the court,” he said

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/368411-late-oba-of-lagos-son-ex-domestic-staff-sentenced-to-death-for-murder.html

People are wicked

This is a case of whatever's done in the darkness shall surely be exposed by the light of the Almighty.


Hang those beast without remorseful.

6,000 to murder person.


he should have been sentenced to 6,000 yrs in prison.


one reason our leaders do not wish to move our country forward is because they want the youths to be poor,so they can do anything for money,coz to them being rich will make us independent.


but they will fail.

Wow! The heart of man is truly wicked.
They should die a slow and painful death.

Speechless

Nice sentence, glad Nigerian factor no enter am!

God see every hidden thing

BabbanBura:
Nice sentence, glad Nigerian factor no enter am!

With which money ? Someone that work as restaurant manager ?

6,000

Nice one.

I hope that billionaire murderer, Chidevilnma is sentenced to death too.
An eye for an eye.

TheN1:
Adewale Oyekan, and a former domestic servant, Lateef Balogun (27)

Na dem

DoggoneDogg:


Na dem

Instead wey dem go follow IPOB hawk gala or do oso afia for Ladipo,Alaba etc,dem go prefer d easy way via skull mining,owo mi da etc

Ajo ewu na ata ede

Evil goat wey dey eat cocoyam

Chidinma na Ekiti girl na

DoggoneDogg:


Na dem

Omo people Wicked oo
Killed and took over the business
That’s callousness, at least Chidinma run! This one no even run

Na Dem dey mine adult skull for 5k, still dey hire hired killer for 6k.

These suffersticated people sef

How callous. I think I remember this story when it first broke back then. I'm surprised it has taken them seven years to reach a verdict. SEVEN YEARS! Phew!!!

This platform is still in 2019.

The biggest fool is the domestic servant, Balogun who was paid 6,000 to kill a woman. 6,000 that some people use for lunch. That guy should be slowly incinerated while alive. His whims and cries will be music to the ears of the just.

6000 for assassination? I tire o!

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.... still waiting for CHIDINMA

The justice system can be slow Sha... A kid born In October 2012 might be preparing a common entrance examination..

A graduate of Architecture in the US could not do anything meaningful with his life...N wa oh. May we not have wasteful children.

This is a major crime story fit for hollywood with many layers still unopened,

You add weight, they say you are getting fat.
You reduce weight, they ask you the nature of your sickness.
You dress coperatly or on long skirt, they say you don't know what's up..
You dress scantily, they tag you a prostitute..
So no matter what you do, you can never satisfy humans...
Someone offered you a job and you paid her by snuffing life out of her..
What a wicked country we live in

A horrible human. Is it the same God that created these people?
Again, why are people bringing tribalism into this? A bad person is a bad person, irrespectiveof tribe or race.