NIGERIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING OWN FATHER

June 1, 2020:

An Ikeja Special Offences Court on 1st June 2020 sentenced Rasak Abiona to death for beating his 62-year-old father to death with a metal rod during a dispute over property in Lagos. In a judgement delivered in a virtual hearing, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo held that though the prosecution had presented circumstantial evidence against the middle-aged defendant during the trial, the state proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
She noted that Rasak’s confessional statements to the police implicated him and that during the trial, the defendant did not present witnesses in court to back his claim that his father died after a fall. “This is a very unfortunate and sad case where a son kills his father,” said the justice who found Rasak guilty of a charge of murder contrary to Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011.
Earlier, before the sentence was delivered, the defence counsel, Obinna Mbagho in his plea for mercy, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that Rasak was a first-time offender who had shown remorse. “He has been in prison since 2013 and ever since his incarceration, his children have been scattered,” Mbagho said.
According to the prosecution, Rasak killed his father, Sunday Abiona, during a scuffle on 28 February 2012 at the deceased’s residence at No. 22, Taiwo St., Ejigbo, Lagos.