Court sentences hotelier Adedoyin to death over OAU student’s murder

Rahman Adedoyin, the owner of Hilton Hotel Ile-Ife in Osun, has been sentenced to death by hanging over the murder of  Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), in 2021. 

Oyebola Ojo, the Osun chief judge, gave the ruling on Tuesday after the hotelier was found guilty in the case.

Adedoyin was sentenced to death alongside two others who were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The judge ordered the forfeiture of the hotel and the Hilux bus used to convey the deceased to the dumping ground.

Ojo also ordered Adedoyin to pay the school fees of the two children of the deceased.

Adegoke was said to have traveled from Abuja to write an exam at a distance learning centre of OAU in Moro, Osun state, on November 5, 2021.

He had lodged in Adedoyin’s hotel.

The student was, however, declared missing two days later — only to be found dead.

The police would later arrest Adedoyin and the six suspects said to be staff members of Hilton Hotels and Resort, Ile-Ife where the deceased lodged.

In March 2022, Waheed Oluogun, a consultant pathologist at Osun State University Teaching Hospital, told the court that the master’s student died of a severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.

“While exhuming the body, it was found to be completely wrapped in a bloody stained duvet without exposing any part of the body,” Oluogun had said.

“It was found in a supine position with two different ropes, one around the neck, the one around the ankles.

“There were maggots found around the left side of the head up to the entire left upper limb. The body was taken to the mortuary section of UNIOSUN Teaching hospital, Osogbo.

“The body was identified by his brother, Adegoke Olugbade. At our teaching hospital, we planned for post mortem examination to know the cause of death. On the 22nd November 2021, 7 pathologists came for the examination.”