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NIGERIA: AKOLADE AROWOLO SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING
February 21, 2014: Three years after he was accused of killing Titilayo, his banker wife, Akolade Arowolo was sentenced to death by hanging.
The trial judge, Justice Lateefa Okunnu of an Ikeja High Court found Arowolo guilty on one-count of murder.
Arowolo was arraigned on December 21, 2011, before Justice Okunnu, on a one- count charge of murder, which he pleaded not guilty.
The Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Olabisi Ogungbesan, who personally conducted the case, had alleged that the accused murdered Titilayo, a banker, on June 24, 2011 at their residence, No. 8, Akindeinde Street, Isolo, Lagos.
The deceased relatives, including her father, George Oyakhire, and her step-mother, Adetoun, had testified that Mr. Arowolo’s marriage was characterised by domestic violence. These evidences were corroborated by the police investigators who buttressed the position before the court.
Also, the state brought Professor John Obafunwa, a Consultant Pathologist and Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State, to testify that Titilayo was stabbed 76 times.
The accused, who opened his defence on May 22, 2013, however, denied the allegation, blaming his in-laws for the trouble in his marriage.
He maintained that he had no hands in Titilayo’s death, insisting she died after she accidentally fell on a knife during a quarrel on his birthday. (Sources: vanguardngr.com, 21/02/2014)
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