An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced a lecturer at the Ekiti State College of Health Technology, Ijero-Ekiti, Shittu Isiaka, to death by hanging after finding him guilty of conspiracy and armed robbery.
The judgment was delivered by Justice O. M. Adejumo, who ruled that the prosecution had successfully proven the offences of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed robbery beyond reasonable doubt.
However, the court discharged and acquitted the defendant on a third count of endangering life or health, holding that the prosecution failed to establish that particular allegation as required by law.
Court records showed that Shittu Isiaka was first arraigned on November 26, 2018, on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, and endangering life.
According to the prosecution, the lecturer and two other suspects who are still at large allegedly carried out the robbery on July 5, 2017, at about 11 a.m., along the Akure–Ilesha Expressway.
The prosecution told the court that the suspects robbed a commercial driver, Olatunji Olowoyeye, of his Nissan Cabstar truck with registration number XJ 214 KTU at gunpoint near Ibuji.
While testifying before the court, the victim, Olatunji Olowoyeye, said he knew the defendant prior to the incident.
He explained that the lecturer and two other men had hired him in Ilesa to transport cocoa beans from Igbara-Oke for a fee of ₦20,000, adding that the suspects initially paid ₦8,000 upfront with a promise to pay the remaining balance after the trip.
According to the driver, the situation took a dramatic turn when the passengers asked him to reverse the vehicle into a bush path near a primary school in Ibuji.
He told the court that one of the passengers suddenly produced a gun while the defendant sat beside him in the front seat of the vehicle.
The victim further testified that the suspects dragged him out of the truck, seized the ignition key, his mobile phone, and cash, before tying his hands and legs and abandoning him in the bush.
He also alleged that the defendant injected him with an unknown substance before tying him to a tree.
According to Olatunji Olowoyeye, he later managed to roll himself through the bush until he reached the highway, where he was rescued by police officers and taken to the hospital.
He told the court that he subsequently passed bloody urine for several days and spent about 15 days receiving treatment in hospital.
A police witness, Kehinde Omotosho, an inspector, also testified that highway patrol officers brought the victim to the **Nigeria Police Force station in Igbara-Oke in a naked condition, after which the victim made a statement implicating the defendant.
During the trial, the lecturer denied the allegations, insisting that he had no involvement in the robbery.
He also denied administering any injection to the victim, arguing that he was not a medical practitioner and had no licence to administer injections.
The defendant further claimed that investigators did not present any syringe or medical evidence to support the allegation that he injected the complainant with a harmful substance.
In his ruling, Justice O. M. Adejumo held that the prosecution failed to establish the allegation of endangering life as required under Section 135(1) of the Evidence Act, leading to the defendant’s acquittal on that count.
However, the court maintained that the evidence presented was sufficient to convict the lecturer on the charges of conspiracy and armed robbery, and consequently sentenced him to death by hanging in accordance with the law.
