Educationist/ hotelier, Adedoyin, 3 staff found guilty of the murder of Adegoke, to die by hanging

An Osun State High Court, sitting in Osogbo, the state capital has found Dr Ramon Adedoyin, the owner of Hilton Hotel in Ile Ife, and two members of the hotel’s staff guilty of the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a former Post Graduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University, who was a guest of the hotel in November 2021.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, the Presiding Judge Justice Adepele Oyebola Ojo, who is the Osun State Chief Judge, found the trio culpable in the murder and accordingly sentenced them to death by hanging. Sentenced alongside Adedoyin are Adeniyi Aderogba and Kazeem Oyetunde.

However, four members of the hotel’s staff prosecuted alongside the guilty person were discharged and acquitted of charges against them. The seventh accused is to be sentenced on Wednesday following pleas by both the prosecution and defendant counsels.

Justice Ojo, in her ruling, held that circumstantial evidence pointed out that Adegoke was killed while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin. She said Adedoyin and the two other persons were responsible for his murder.

She added that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box did not help him, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof on him.

Adegoke went missing between November 5 and 7, 2021 after checking into Hilton Honours Hotel, Ile-Ife, in preparation for his examination at university.  His family raised the alarm which resulted in a police investigation, which later led to the arrest and charging to the court of Adedoyin and six employees. Adedoyin’s first son, Raheem was declared wanted over the case.