A defendant in the case of murder of Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has said that the student’s body was dumped in a bush along Ede road on the order of the managing director of Hilton Hotels and Resort, Roheem Adedoyin.
The defendant Oyetunde Kazeem stated this before Osun State High Court in Osogbo on Thursday.
He said Mr Adedoyin ordered him and another worker of the hotel to move the corpse from the hotel room to his Hilux car.
The hotel managing director, who is on the run, is the son of the owner of Hilton Hotels, Ramon Adedoyin.
Mr Kazeem, who was cross-examined by Femi Falana, claimed that he obeyed orders of the managing director because he told them that they were taking the corpse to the morgue.
The suspect said while on their way to the morgue, the hotel managing director, however, parked the vehicle beside a bush and ordered them to dispose of the body.
“I joined him in the vehicle because he said he had reported the case to the police,” the witness said.
“When our M.D. came to the hotel on that day, he said the case had been reported to the police and the officers in charge had told him to evacuate the corpse to the mortuary, so I felt we were going to the mortuary,” he claimed.
“He stopped beside a bush and told us to come down and carry the body inside the bush. He left the body inside the bush.”
Mr Kazeem also said that they also dumped the belongings of the deceased student beside his corpse in the bush.
“Three of us took the corpse from the hotel. MD took properties of the deceased student along when we were going to the bush. He packed them inside a blue bag belonging to the deceased. The leftover water the deceased’s student drank last, his phone and laptop were inside the bag and he dumped everything beside his corpse inside the bush,” the suspect added.
He further said that the hotel managing director drove him and the other person back to the hotel after they had disposed of the body.
“I was inside the vehicle with them on that day. After we had disposed of the body and his belongings, our MD drove us back to the hotel and that was the last time I saw the vehicle,” he added.
“After the police arrested us, we took them to the bush but we were unable to see the corpse and his belongings that we kept beside him.”
Justice Adepele Ojo adjourned the case till Friday 16 December for the witness who will testify in support of the first defendant, Ramon Adedoyin, to appear before the court.
