The murderers of Olajide Blessing Omowumi, a 300-level student at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), were condemned to death by hanging on Tuesday, following a legal battle that lasted almost one and a half years.

Omowumi was brutally raped and killed by her attackers in June of last year.

As reported by NAN, presiding judge Ibrahim Yusuf found guilty the first, second, and third accused, Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Oluwatimileyin, and Oyeyemi Omogbolahan, of culpable homicide and armed robbery.

They were likewise sentenced to death by hanging by the judge.

The fourth and fifth defendants were also found guilty of theft and given three-year jail terms.

Before this, the court had released and acquitted the sixth, seventh, and eighth suspects, Abdullateef Abdulrahman, Daud Aderayo, and Akande Oladoja, since they were deemed not guilty of any crimes.

The verdict states that the student’s corpse was discovered with several bruises. Her wrists were reportedly tied behind her back, and a cloth was placed over her head.

The judge further noted that the standard statement that could be relied upon in a court of law indicated that the victim had fought with her killers until she was pushed and collapsed, and that the first and third criminals then held her down while the second perpetrated the horrible crime of rape.

He said that the deceased was raped to death on June 2, 2021 in her guardian’s home in the Tanke neighborhood of Ilorin, and that a note reading “No forgiveness for UNILORIN student” was dropped on her breast.

The verdict states that the defendants Ismail, Oluwatimileyin, and Omogbolahan plotted to steal many goods from the dead, including her Samsung Galaxy A2 Core phone, a black Acer Aspire laptop, and a Samsung drive.

The 11 counts against the killers included murder, rape, armed robbery, and unlawful gun possession.

Prosecutor Salman Jawondo commented on the verdict by saying that “justice has caught up with the guilty.”

“The first, second and third defendants who are the main culprits were found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to murder,” Jawondo said.

“They were accordingly sentenced to death. That’s the maximum. There’s no discretion for the court to exercise by virtue of the provision of the Armed Robbery Act, its death.

“So also by virtue of Section 221 of the Penal Code, it’s a death sentence for culpable homicide. So, they were accordingly sentenced to death.

“Although, the third defendant, who was also convicted of rape was sentenced to life imprisonment, it’s neither here nor there. When somebody is condemned, life imprisonment does not ameliorate anything.

“With respect to the fourth and fifth defendants, they were found guilty of conspiracy to steal and stealing of money in the bank account of the deceased.

“You know, after killing her, they took her ATM card, Sim card and her phone.

“They changed her password, through the instrumentality of the fourth and fifth defendants, who are experts in computer manipulation, collected some money through transfer, totalling about N149,000.

“They were convicted for conspiracy and stealing/theft. They were accordingly sentenced to three years imprisonment to run concurrently. For conspiracy, one year, for main offence three years, commencing from the date of their arrest. They’ve spent about one and half years already in custody.

“The other three: sixth, seventh and eighth escaped by whiskers. They are fortunate. If you look at their involvement, they only assisted to dispose of property stolen.

“The irony of it all is that all those involved are very young men of 19, 23, etc. It’s quite unfortunate and that tells that we have to work on our future in this country.”