An Osun State High Court, on Thursday sentenced to death by hanging,
the prime suspect in June 14, 2007 bomb blast incident, Richard Abayomi
Adesanmi. The blast occurred within the premises of Osun State Secretariat, Abeere.
Justice
Adeyinka Aderibigbe, while delivering his judgement in the case,
convicted Adesanmi on all the six-count charge bothering on murder and
conspiracy to effect unlawful purpose. It would be recalled that
an explosion, which occurred in the Peugeot 504 saloon car with the
registration number AL 850 NND parked near Ministry of Water Resources
and Rural Development, had killed one of the occupants of the vehicle
who was simply identified as Taye and injured Adesanmi.
Other two
occupants of the vehicle, one Henry and Gboyega Olasogba, however,
escaped from the scene and have remained at large since then. After
the incident, Adesanmi, who claimed to be an indigene of Ondo, was
immediately taken to the Government House clinic, where he was treated
for the injuries he received in his eyes. During the
investigation, police confirmed that Improvised Explosive Device (IED)
was the substance that exploded in the vehicle on the day of the
incident, adding that materials that could be used to make explosives
were also recovered from the vehicle driven by one of the accused
persons.
Delivering
his judgement, Justice Aderibigbe said “Richard Abayomi Adesanmi is
sentenced to death by hanging on his neck till he gives up the ghost.” Adesanmi, who bowed as the judge passed the verdict, was in tears as the prison officials led him out of the court.
Aderibigbe
had earlier, while ruling on the first five counts of the charge,
pronounced Adesanmi guilty of act intended to cause harm contrary to
Section 332 (3) of Criminal Code of Osun State and to commit crime with
explosive Contrary to Section 514 of Criminal Code of Osun State. He subsequently slammed a combined sentence of 40 years jail term with no option of fine on Adesanmi for the first five counts.
The
prosecution was led by the former Attorney General and Commissioner for
Justice, Wale Afolabi and Dapo Adeniji, the Director of Public
Prosecution, while Wilson Atirene represented the accused person.
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