Rahmon Adegoke Adedoyin, M.D, born January 1st, 1957 is a Nigerian educationist and businessman who was sentenced to death by hanging on May 30th, 2023. He is the founder and proprietor of Oduduwa University and the polytechnic ile-ife.
Adegoke was found dead in November 2021 at Adedoyin’s Hilton Honours Hotel, Ile-Ife, where he (the deceased) had lodged.
In a judgment on Tuesday, the Chief Judge of Osun State, Justice Adepele Ojo, pronounced Adedoyin and two staff members of the hotel guilty of murder.
The judge, in a judgment that lasted over two hours, held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court, pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
The judge dismissed Adedoyin’s alibi that he was not within the hotel when the late Adegoke lodged there.
In the final analysis, the judge said the prosecution proved the charges of conspiracy and unlawful killing pressed against Adedoyin and two of the six workers charged along with Rahmon.
The court, however, freed three of the hotel staffs who are Magdalene Chiefuna, Oluwole Lawrence and Adebayo Kunle.
For the seventh defendant, Adesola Adedeji, the receptionist on duty on the day late Adegoke arrived at the hotel, the judge adjourned till today to give her verdict.
The decision to delay her sentencing was sequel to the pleadings by her counsel, Okon Ita, and the prosecutor, Fatima Adesina, who urged the court to be lenient with her, since she was not linked to the death of the deceased and for the fact that she was a first time offender.
The trial judge also declared wanted the manager of Hilton Hotel, Roheem, who is a son to the hotel owner and asked Interpol to fish him out to answer to the charges, for the role he played in Adegoke’s death.
After listening to the pronouncement of the court, Adedoyin when given the opportunity to talk, insisted that he had no hand in the killing of Adegoke.
In the charges against the defendants, the prosecution said Adedoyin and others “on or between November 5th, 2021, and November 7th, 2021, conspired amongst yourselves to unlawfully kill one Timothy Adegoke ‘M’ and thereby committed an offense contrary to and punishable under Section 324 of the Criminal Code, Vol II Cap 34, Laws of Osun State, 2002.”
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