On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, upheld the death sentence judgment earlier handed out by the High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, to Rahmon Adedoyin, an industrialist.
Adedoyin was handed the sentence on May 30, 2023, for his direct involvement in the killing of Timothy Adegoke, an Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) MBA student.
Apart from Adedoyin, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, two of his staff, also bagged the same sentence.
READ MORE: BREAKING: Court Sentences Rahmon Adedoyin to Death by Hanging
The landmark ruling formed part of the high-profile murder case that gained national attention in 2021, closely monitored by Nigerians to the very end.
MISSING IN NOVEMBER, 2021
On November 5, 2021, Adegoke, an Abuja-based chartered accountant, travelled to Ile-Ife to write his Master of Business Administration exams at the OAU Distance Learning Centre.
Moments after checking into Hilton Hotels and Resorts, a hotel Adedoyin owned, the chartered accountant placed a phone call to his wife to let her know he had arrived at his destination.
Unfortunately, that was the very last phone conversation he had with her.
On November 6, 2021, Adegoke’s wife attempted several phone calls to her husband from morning to night but they were never answered. At that point, she sensed all was not well and decided to alert her husband’s family members.
READ MORE: UPDATED: Appeal Court Upholds Rahmon Adedoyin’s Death Sentence
Two days after friends and family members still could neither reach the accountant nor find him at the exam venue, he was declared missing.
After an intense search by the police, the accountant’s lifeless body was later found in a shallow grave very close to Hilton Hotel and Resorts, where he had been accommodated. The discovery was made on November 15, 2021.
COVER-UPS, ARRESTS
After Adegoke’s body was exhumed, there were blood stains on different parts of his body.
The shirt he wore was soaked in blood, and his shoulders and head were half-covered with a grey bed sheet.
READ MORE: REVEALED: What Timothy Adegoke’s Body Looked Like When Found
The discovery subsequently led to the arrest of Adedoyin and six other staff members of the hotel.
Roheem, Adedoyin’s son, who also had a hand in Adegoke’s death, was identified as the fourth murderer. He is, however, still at large.
When the suspects were charged to court and the hearing began, Adesola Adedeji, one of the receptionists who was on duty on the night Adegoke was killed, narrated how the hotel management attempted to cover up the accountant’s death.
While testifying before the court, Adedeji said she was instructed by Roheem, who was the managing director of the hotel at the time, to fabricate another receipt which would not reflect Adegoke’s name. This was after the accountant had been killed.
An autopsy report later revealed that Adegoke’s death was caused by severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.
READ MORE: How Hilton Hotel Altered Guest Record to Cover Up Timothy Adegoke’s Death
HIGH COURT JUDGMENT
After close to two years of intense court arguments, battle and intrigues, Adedoyin, Aderogba and Oyetunde were sentenced to death by hanging by the Osogbo High Court on May 30, 2023.
Three other defendants in the case, Magdalene Chiefuna, Lawrence Oluwole and Adesola Adedeji, were discharged and acquitted of the various offences preferred against them by the prosecution.
The court was of the opinion that the offences for which they were charged did not go in tandem with the evidence elicited by the prosecution.
Adedoyin would subsequently appeal the sentencing in July of the same year.
Adegoke, 37, was the breadwinner of his immediate and extended families. He was survived by a wife, three children, siblings and aged parents.
The post FLASHBACK: Timothy Adegoke’s Disappearance, Murder, Events That Followed appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.