Court sentences man to 15 years imprisonment
From Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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A 52-year-old man, Joshua Akanbi, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by an Ado Ekiti High Court for manslaughter.
He committed the offence during a land dispute between Ayede Ekiti and Itaji Ekiti communities in Oye Local Government area of the state.
The convict, a farmer was arraigned alongside Abiodun Ogundamisi, 40, and Segun Ogundamisi, 22, on two-count charge of conspiracy and murder preferred against them in 2017.
The trial judge, Justice Toyin Abodunde, held that evidence before the court proved that Akanbi was guilty of manslaughter for opening fire on one Seyi Oladipupo during a dispute when the two communities were laying claim to Orisunmibare farm settlement which later caused the victim’s death.
He ruled that evidence before the court was not enough to convict the accused for murder under section 316 of Criminal Code, Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State 2012 and subsequently discharged them of the charge.
But the court, however, found the convict guilty of manslaughter for shooting the deceased which later caused his death.
The offence, according to Justice Abodunde, contravened sections 319 and 326, Cap 6 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
The accused persons were first arraigned on July 6, 2017, when the charges were read to them to which they pleaded not guilty.
It was learnt that an argument was said to have ensued between the two contending parties who invaded the land with weapons accusing themselves of trespass, afterwhich the convict reportedly opened fire when an attempt was made to disarm him of the gun he was holding.
The Hope Metro gathered that during the incident which occurred on January 31, 2017, at the farm settlement, the deceased was rushed to the nearest hospital after being shot, but later died due to excessive loss of blood according to the medical personnel who conducted post mortem examination on his corpse at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital.
To prove the case against the convict, the Solicitor General, Mr. Babatope Ojo, called seven witnesses including the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) and the medical doctor, while exhibits tendered include, one pump action gun, photographs taken at the scene of the incident, live cartridges and statements of the accused persons.
The accused persons in their defence through their counsel, Mr. Sule Longe, called eight witnesses and also tendered photographs of the machete wounds sustained by the convict and the statements volunteered to the police.
