An Osun state high court has found the owner of Hilton Honours Hotel at Ile-Ife, Dr Ramon Adedoyin, guilty of the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a master’s student at the Obafemi Awolowo University, who was reportedly killed between November 5 and 7, 2021, at the hotel.
The Osun Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, who gave the ruling on Tuesday, held that the circumstantial evidence available to the court showed that Timothy Adegoke was killed while he was a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin.
The presiding judge said that Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box did not help him, as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof on him.
She also said Adedoyin’s decision not to enter the witness box meant he agreed to the murder charge pressed against him by the prosecution.
The judge held that the hotelier’s decision dismissed the alibi pleaded on his behalf by his counsel, who said he (Adedoyin) was in Abuja for many days around the time the late Adegoke was killed.