An Osun State High has found Dr Rahman Adedoyin, owner of Hilton Hotel and Oduduwa University, Ile-Ife guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.
The court under the ruling of Justice Adepele Ojo declared that Adedoyin, owner of Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife, where Timothy Adegoke, an OAU postgraduate student was allegedly killed was culpable of murder.
Adegoke, a postgraduate student from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), was murdered between November 5 and 7, 2021, at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife.
Justice Ojo in her ongoing judgement said the owner of the hotel and two of his workers, based on the circumstances of the case established by the prosecuting counsel, Femi Falana, SAN, are found culpable of conspiracy to commit murder, and unlawful killing of the deceased.
The Judge held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while he was a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
She stated that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box did not help him, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof on him.
Justice Ojo also added that Adedoyin’s refusal to testify meant he agreed to the murder charge brought against him by the prosecution, dismissing the alibi pleaded on his behalf by his counsel, who stated that the hotel owner was in Abuja for several days around the time of the late Adegoke’s death.
