A High Court, sitting in Oyo Town, Oyo State, has sentenced a 37-year-old truck driver, Adeyemi Morenikeji, to death over the killing of Mrs. Racheal Ayanwale, the wife of his former boss.
Morenikeji, a former employee of the Ayanwale family, was said to have confessed when paraded at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, on April 11, 2019, that he lured the woman out of her office under the pretext of helping her to seek spiritual solution to her marital problem.
According to News Coven, he was reported to have said that he strangulated the woman on their way to a spiritual house and dumped her body by the riverside, and thereafter went away with her Pontiac Vibe vehicle, with registration number KJA 67 CY.
Morenikeji was, however, apprehended by men of the Oyo State Police Command on April 18, 2019, at Sango-Ota, Ogun State, and was prosecuted after investigation.
In his confessional statement, he was reported to have said: “On the way to the spiritual house, I strangled Mrs. Rachael Ayanwale, left her body by the riverside, and went away with her Pontiac Vibe vehicle, with registration number KJA 67 CY.
“She was the wife of my boss who I worked for before they both sacked me. I drove their truck for them, plying Wharf in Lagos and Obajana in Kogi State.
“But I was sacked at a period when my wife was pregnant, and I couldn’t afford her going for ante-natal care. And when she eventually delivered, we lost the child.
“All this while, I had been begging them to forgive me, but they refused. Even after the death of the child, I still went back to them with someone to beg them again to re-employ me, but they refused.”
Standing trial before the Oyo High Court, two-count charges were preferred against the accused person in case Number HOY/1C/2020.
Justice Adenike Adeeyo, after thorough deliberation by both the state counsel and the defendant counsel, read the two-count charges before the accused who raised no objection but pleaded for mercy.
The charges read: “That you, Aderemi Morenikeji, on or about the 11th day of April 2019, at about 1400hours, between School of Survey and Awe Road, Oyo in the Oyo Judicial Division, murdered one Racheal Ayanwale (female) by strangulation and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Volume 11, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.
Delivering a 62-page judgment, Justice Adeeyo said: “This honorable court hereby sentences you, Aderemi Morenike, to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour for robbing late Racheal Oyewunmi Ayanwale of her Pontiac Car and phones.”
On count 1, the judge said: “This court sentences you, Aderemi Morenikeji, to death for the murder of Racheal Oyewumi Ayanwale.”