An Ondo State High Court has sentenced a 78-year old community leader, Ojo Komolafe, to death by hanging for murder of a school proprietor, Taofik Babalola, in 2021.
The presiding judge, Justice Yemi Fasanmi, convicted Komolafe after finding him guilty of using a gun to kill Babalola in Kajola area of Odigbo Local Government Area on August 7, 2021.
The prosecutor told the court that Babalola was asleep when he was shot in the thigh by the convict.
During the trial, four witnesses were called by the prosecutor, including the deceased’s wife, a neighbour, a police officer, and a pathologist.
The victim’s wife, testified that she heard a gunshot and saw Komolafe holding a gun in the corridor of their apartment.
She further testified that when she saw the convict, she ran to her husband’s room and found him on his bed in a pool of blood, adding that she shouted for help that Komolafe had shot him.
Komolafe, who pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge against him, however, denied he killed Babalola.
He claimed that the wife of the deceased was coerced into implicating him and that some cultists he had reported for arson were involved in the conspiracy.
Komolafe said he too was at home with his wife when he heard the gunshot.
But the presiding judge in his ruling said he noted discrepancies in the defendant’s testimony, therefore, dismissing his claim of a conspiracy as a mere speculation.
Justice Fasanmi ruled that the defendant was guilty of causing the death of the deceased by shooting him at close range and that the victim was seen fleeing the scene of the crime.
“You (the defendant) are hereby sentenced to be hanged on the neck until you die in the first count and seven years imprisonment for the second count,” the judge ruled.
