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From Mokolade Michael, Akure
An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital has sentenced a man, Abayomi Joseph, to death for killing his neighbour.
Joseph was sentenced after he was found guilty of hacking one Thomas Oluwole, who was his neighbour to death with a machete, in 2021, at Ijoka area of Akure, following an allegation of well water poisoning levelled against the deceased’s daughter by the convict.
During the heated argument, Joseph was said to have attacked the deceased, a 63-year-old bricklayer with machete and hacked at his neck and other parts of his body with the machete which led to his death.
He was later arrested by the police and charged to court .
He was arraigned before the court on one-count charge of murder.
He was charged filed before the court by an Assistant Chief Legal Officer, Mrs Omotola Ologun, from the Ondo State Ministry of Justice.
During the prosecution, the convict was said to have pleaded insanity as the cause of his action.
But after series of arguments from both the prosecuting and defence counsel, the court found Joseph guilty of the offence.
While delivering the judgement, the trial judge, Justice O.S Kuteyi stated that since the defendant had deliberately attacked the deceased by hitting him with wood on his head and cutting his head with cutlass, he cannot be excused from the death of the deceased by his actions.
While holding that the prosecution had proven the case of murder against the accused person beyond reasonable doubt, Justice Kuteyi sentenced him to death by hanging.
The court held that “his feeble attempt to raise insanity or insane delusion was only a ploy to cover the face of the court from seeing the truth of the killing of the deceased on the fateful morning of the 17th March, 2021.
“The evidence of the defendant that he ran to a mountain top and saw a pastor who advised him to report his fears to the chairman of the street is a failed ploy to rely on insane delusion.”
