By Sunmola Olowookere
|
I got cement from our compound and plastered the shallow grave where Khadijat Oluboyo was buried after her killers left. Then I covered it with a rug so that no one would suspect she was buried in my room.”
This was the shocking revelation of Seidu Sakiru Adeyemi, who was the sole defendant in the murder case of Khadijat Oluboyo, the daughter of a former deputy governor of Ondo state, before an Akure High court.
Adeyemi made the revelation while being cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel, Helen Falowo.
It would be recalled that the case was adjourned for further hearing on January 15, 2019 to January 21, for the defense to open its case.
At the last trial, the defense led by Kunle Awoma had called the defense sole witness to the witness stand.
While testifying before the court, the defendant told the court that he was a graduate of Quantity Survey at the Federal University of Technology, Akure and did his Youth Corps Service in Katsina State two years ago.
He stated that he had been in a relationship with the deceased since 2011 and they broke up in 2015 because he caught her discussing issues of sex with some men on phone.
He told the court that they only got back together a week before she was brutally murdered in his room.
On the fateful day, Seidu claimed that Khadijat had invited two strangers to his room, but said she did not inform him of their coming.
Under cross examination, he later admitted that he was uncomfortable with the two strangers who wore scarred faces and coupled with the fact that they had just made up after a fight over a similar incident, he left the two men with Khadijat in his room and went to buy a soft drink.
He told the court that one of them later called him to come inside the room and threatened him with a gun.
He narrated that he saw the deceased naked on the floor while pleading with one of them lying atop her to spare her life and that he would not tell anyone what transpired between them.
He said that the same man strangulated her in his presence while they ordered him to bring a digger and a spade to dig where they would bury her corpse.
He said that her corpse was covered up at the corner of his room, adding that they threatened to wipe out his family if he divulged their secret and left.
He further testified that he got cement from his father’s supplies, plastered the grave and covered it with rug so that no one would suspect.
Seidu said that he became worried when the deceased parents started looking for her.
He said it was then he exhumed her corpse with the intent to dispose it off somewhere else.
When he could not carry out the disposal alone, he said that he secured the assistance of his brother who spilled the beans which later led to his eventual arrest.
Under cross examination by the prosecuting counsel who looked into his testimony, he denied the statement he wrote at the police station in which he had confessed that he was into Yahoo business which he started in early 2018, and committed the crime because he wanted to upgrade to yahoo plus.
Under cross examination, he stated that he could not rescue her while she was being murdered in spite of her cries for help because he was afraid.
He countered his father’s testimony in an earlier sitting that while the girl was buried in his room, he showed no anxiety and related normally and ate with other members of the family.
He said that in contrast to his father’s claim, he was uncomfortable.
The defense then closed its case and the case was adjourned till February 28, 2019 for adoption of written addresses.
