An Ondo State High Court in Akure has sentenced Abayomi Joseph to death for killing his neighbor, Thomas Oluwole.
Joseph was found guilty in court for hacking Oluwole to death with a machete in 2021 in the Ijoka area of Akure.
The attack followed an allegation of well water poisoning against the deceased’s daughter by Joseph.
However, while, Joseph claimed insanity during the trial, the prosecution argued that the claim was a ploy to cover his crime.
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Court’s decision
Justice O.S Kuteyi emphasized that the defendant, by intentionally striking his neighbor with wood and cutting his head with a cutlass, couldn’t be exempted from the responsibility for causing the man’s death through his actions.
Justice Kuteyi held that Joseph deliberately attacked the victim. Consequently, he sentenced him to death by hanging, dismissing the attempt to rely on an alleged insane delusion.
The judge said “The evidence of the defendant that he ran to a mountain top and saw a pastor who advised him to report his fears to the chairman of the street is a failed ploy to rely on insane delusion.”