An educator at the College of Health Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has been condemned to death by hanging by an Ondo State High Court for armed robbery.
The accused, Shittu Isiaka, was found culpable on a two-count indictment of conspiracy and armed robbery by the presiding judge, Justice O. M. Adejumo.
On the third charge, the court acquitted and freed Isiaka for allegedly jeopardizing the life or health of the victim. The judge determined that the prosecution did not prove the claim beyond a reasonable doubt.
The accused was initially presented before the court on November 26, 2018, on a three-count accusation of conspiracy to carry out armed robbery, armed robbery, and endangering life.
According to the prosecution, the accused along with other suspects who remain 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 stated that a police witness, Inspector Kehinde Omotosho, reported that the victim drafted a statement implicating the accused.
During the trial, the accused refuted all the allegations, maintaining that he had no connection to the robbery.
In his ruling, Justice Adejumo determined that the prosecution failed to demonstrate the offence of endangering life as mandated under Section 135(1) of the Evidence Act.
