A man, Abayomi Joseph has been handed a death sentence by an Ondo State High Court, sitting in Akure, the state capital for killing his neighbour.
Joseph was handed the sentence after he was found guilty of killing one Thomas Oluwole, who was his neighbour, with a machete, at the Ijoka area of Akure in 2021.
A disagreement took place between both men after an allegation by the convict that the deceased’s daughter had poisoned their well.
During the heated argument, Joseph was said to have attacked the 63-year-old bricklayer with a machete, hacking his neck and other parts of his body with the machete which led to his death.
He was later arrested by the police, charged to court on one count charge of murder and found guilty by the court.
While delivering the judgement, the trial judge, Justice O.S Kuteyi, stated that since the defendant had deliberately attacked the deceased by hitting him with wood on his head and cutting his head with a cutlass, he could not be excused from how his actions led to the deceased’s death.
While holding that the prosecution had proved the case of murder against the accused person beyond reasonable doubt, Justice Kuteyi sentenced him to death by hanging.
The court held that “His feeble attempt to raise insanity or insane delusion was only a ploy to cover the face of the court from seeing the truth of the killing of the deceased on the fateful morning of March 17, 2021.
“The evidence of the defendant that he ran to a mountain top and saw a pastor who advised him to report his fears to the chairman of the street is a failed ploy to rely on insane delusion.”
Credit: Punch
