Court sentences man to death for killing neighbour in Ondo

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 condemned after he was found guilty of cutting to death one Thomas Oluwole, his neighbour, with a machete in 2021 in Akure’s Ijoka area, following an allegation of well water poisoning levied by the prisoner against the deceased’s daughter.

During the heated altercation, Joseph was reported to have assaulted the 63-year-old bricklayer with a machete and chopped at his neck and other portions of his body, killing him. He was later caught and charged in court.

He was arraigned in court on a single count of murder, based on information filed by an Assistant Chief Legal Officer from the Ondo State Ministry of Justice, Mrs Omotola Ologun.

The convict claimed he was mad when committing the crime during the procedures.

Following a series of arguments from both prosecution and defence lawyers, the court declared Joseph guilty.

The trial judge, Justice O.S Kuteyi, noted that because the defendant willfully attacked the deceased by beating him on the head with wood and slashing his skull with a cutlass, he could not be absolved from the death caused by his conduct.

While holding that the prosecution had proved the case of murder against the accused person beyond a reasonable doubt, Justice Kuteyi sentenced him to death by hanging.