Court Of Appeal Upholds Death Sentence For Ekiti Health College Lecturer Over Armed Robbery

The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, has sentenced Shittu Isiaka, a lecturer at the College of Health Technology in Ijero-Ekiti, to death by hanging after finding him guilty of armed robbery.
The judgement was delivered by Justice Omolara Adejumo, who held that the prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt that Isiaka participated in a robbery attack that took place on July 5, 2017, along Ibuji on the Akure-Ilesha Expressway.
During the trial, prosecution counsel John Joshua told the court that the victim, identified as Olowoyeye, had been hired by Isiaka and two other men in Ilesa to transport cocoa beans from Igbara-Oke for a fee of N20,000. The men reportedly paid N8,000 upfront and promised to pay the balance after the trip.
Olowoyeye told the court that he became suspicious when the passengers directed him to drive off the main road and into the bush near a primary school in Ibuji. According to him, the situation turned violent when one of the men sitting beside him suddenly pulled out a gun while Isiaka occupied the front seat.
The victim said the attackers dragged him out of the vehicle, seized the car keys, his phone and cash, then tied his hands and legs before abandoning him in the bush.
He further alleged that one of the assailants injected him with an unknown substance before tying him to a tree. Olowoyeye told the court he later managed to roll through the bush until he reached the highway, where police patrol officers rescued him and took him to a hospital.
According to his testimony, he passed bloody urine for several days and spent about 15 days receiving medical treatment.
A police witness, Inspector Kehinde Omotosho, told the court that the victim was brought to the Igbara-Oke Police Station by highway patrol officers, where he made a statement implicating Isiaka.
However, Isiaka denied all the allegations. He insisted he had no role in the robbery and rejected the claim that he injected the victim with any substance.
The defendant argued that he was not a medical practitioner and had no licence to administer injections. He also told the court that investigators failed to present any syringe or object allegedly used for the injection, and no medical report was tendered to support the claim.
In her judgement, Justice Adejumo agreed that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of endangering life, noting the absence of eyewitness testimony and medical evidence regarding the alleged injection.
She ruled that it would be unsafe to rely solely on the testimonies of the victim and another witness on that specific allegation.
Isiaka was therefore acquitted on the third count.
However, the court held that there was sufficient evidence linking him to the robbery itself. Justice Adejumo consequently convicted him of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed robbery.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the conspiracy charge and death by hanging for armed robbery.
“The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead,” the judge declared.