26-year-old Man Sentenced to Death for Murder

Akinwale Akintunde

Justice Raliatu Adebiyi of an Ikeja High Court has sentenced a 26-year-old man, Anuoluwapo Samuel, to death for killing his friend during a drunken brawl.

The judge found Samuel guilty of a count of murder preferred against him by the Lagos State Government.

Delivering the judgment monday, Justice Adebiyi said that prosecution established the ingredients necessary to secure a murder conviction.

“The defendant, Anuoluwapo Samuel is hereby sentenced to death in accordance to Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

“May the Lord have mercy on your soul.

“The defendant from the facts of the case, did not set out to kill the deceased but he must have known that the machete wound he inflicted caused a grievous bodily harm.

“The defendant left the scene of the fight to fetch a machete, that action was a proof of his intent to inflict the maximum injury on the deceased,” the judge said.

The prosecution, led by Mr. Akin George told the court that the convict committed the offence on May 2, 2012 at Oke-Afa Secondary School, Badagry, Lagos.

“The convict and the deceased, John Omobere, were involved in a drunken fight after drinking locally made gin.

“The fight was allegedly instigated by a third friend, ‘Lampard.’ The convict was allegedly stabbed by the deceased with a broken bottle.

“After the convict was stabbed, he ran to his house to get a machete and inflicted deep cuts in his right arm

 “The deceased did not die at the scene but at his home, the autopsy established that he died of Haemorrhagic shock and severe lacerations on his right hand,” George said.

According to George, the deceased was discovered the next day lying dead in a pool of blood in his home by members of his family.