Osun-based hotelier Ramon Adedoyin and two of his staff members convicted for the murder of Timothy Adegoke have filed an appeal against the verdict before a higher court.
Mr Adegoke, a postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, died at Hilton Hotel and Resort in Ile-Ife last year. His body was illegally evacuated.
Last month, Osun State Chief Judge Adepele Ojo, who presided over the matter, sentenced Adedoyin and two of his staff members that participated in the evacuation of the deceased from the hotel, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, to death by hanging.
Justice Ojo also ruled that the hotel where Adegoke’s death occurred should be forfeited to the state government, while education of the deceased’s children should be funded till they complete tertiary institution from the estates of the convicts.
The judge, however, freed three staff members of the hotel namely Magdalene Chiefuna, Oluwole Lawrence, and Adebayo Kunle, while the seventh defendant, Adesola Adedeji, who was the receptionist on duty on the day late Adegoke arrived at the facility, was sentenced to two years imprisonment starting from the day of her arrest.
One of Adedoyin’s lawyers Muhydeen Adeoye told PUNCH on Thursday that the convicts had appealed the judgment of the Osun State High Court on the matter.
“We have filed an appeal against the judgment of Osun State High Court. The appeal was filed before the Court of Appeal, Akure,” he said.
After the judgment, wife of the deceased Bolatito revealed that her husband’s death made her mentally unstable.
Mrs Adegoke told The Nation that she had lost hope of getting justice until the death sentence was handed to her husband’s killers.
“Since the death of my husband, I have not been mentally stable but with the judgment of the court, I am happy and glad,” she said.
