25-yr-old man sentenced to death for murder

The Ikirun High Court in Osun State has sentenced a 25-year-old man, Tajudeen Ganiyu, to death by hanging for killing a four-year-old boy, Tesleem Bakare.

Justice Jide Falola, who delivered the judgment, said that Ganiyu lured the victim away from his grandmother, Mrs Raliatu Bakare, on the pretext that he intended to send the boy on an errand to buy groundnut, but instead killed him.

“The young boy was slaughtered like a ram. The convict was arrested and taken to the palace of the Aragbiji of Iragbiji, where he was handed over to the police. He confessed to the police to have killed the boy and led them to the bush at Iragbiji where they found the victim’s remains,” Justice Falola said.

The convict was arraigned in October 2017 for conspiracy and murder, to which he admitted guilt, though he claimed he was mentally ill.

The judge noted Ganiyu did not give any satisfactory evidence of where he had been confirmed or treated for any mental problem.

He said, “The accused did not exhibit any sign of insanity in the box as observed by the court. He answered all questions satisfactorily in the box during the proceedings.”

Mrs Esther Napoleon, from the Legal Aid Council, who represented the convict, prayed the court to be merciful in sentencing the convict as he was a first offender.

But Justice Falola ruled that the convict should be hanged by the neck until he dies, a judgment that the Principal State Counsel, Mr Jacob Ayanyemi, commended.