Nigeria | 5 years later, Court sentences Lagos pastor, one other to death for ritual killing of 7-year-old

The judge who said the duo deserved no mercy sentenced them to death after they pleaded guilty to killing the 7-year-old.

An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, sentenced one Pastor Erinmole Adetokunbo and one Adedoyin Oyekanmi to death for killing a seven-year-old boy for ritual purposes.

Reports reaching Alimoshotoday state that the judge sentenced the duo to death after they pleaded guilty to the two-count charge brought against them by the state government. The convicts were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder, by the Lagos state government on October 30, 2017.

The prosecution alleged that the convicts committed the offences on June 7, 2017, in the Odokekere area of Ikorodu in Lagos state, adding that the duo cut off the child’s head and buried it on a `church’ altar and threw the body into a canal.

Although the accused persons initially pleaded not guilty upon arraignment, at the court session on Monday, August 8, 2022, O.A. Bajulaiye, the prosecution counsel, informed the court that the defendants were ready to change their pleas. Consequently, the convicts pleaded guilty to the two-count charge.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, the judge imposed the maximum sentence for murder, death by hanging, adding that the duo committed heinous crimes.

“The defendants have committed a heinous crime and deserve no mercy. They have cruelly and intentionally killed a seven-year-old boy. This deprived him and his family of a bright destiny.

“Section 222 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State imposes death penalty for premeditated murder, and I have no hesitation in imposing the said punishment.

“I hereby sentence Adedoyin Oyekanmi and Erinwole Adetokunbo to death for killing Kazeem Rafiu. May God have mercy on your souls,” the judge held.

Source: alimoshotoday.com, Staff, August 11, 2022

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