Court sentences hotel staff to death by hanging for killing boss

 By: News Peddlers

Noose is used to illustrate the story 

On Tuesday, an Ikeja High Court sentenced a 30-year-old hotel employee, Jeffrey Ehizojie, to death by hanging for strangling his employer, Olusola Olusoga, and the hotel manager, Tunji Omikunle.

In his decision, Justice Oyindamola Ogala stated that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Mr Ehizojie was found guilty by Ms Ogala of beating and strangling the managing director of Etsahol Hotel and Suites in Ojodu-Berger, Lagos.

She stated that the prosecution's case was based on the convict's confessional statement as well as circumstantial evidence.

According to her, the court carefully considered the retracted defence statement (which was admitted as evidence), in which Mr Ehizojie stated that one of the hotel's employees, Henry, informed him that the hotel's owner kept a lot of money at home.

"The defendant, in his confessional statement, said that Olusoga treated her workers badly, so they planned to tie her up and collect her money," Mr Ogala said.

"A confessional statement is the best evidence to support a conviction, and as has been held in several cases, it can be relied on solely when voluntary.

"It is interesting that the defendant, who was privy to the state of affairs at the hotel, told the court that he was shocked when the police informed him of the death of his boss and manager when he was arrested in Port Harcourt.

"There is no doubt that the defendant was present at the scene of the crime, as evidenced by his testimony in chief and exhibits before the court."

The court, according to the judge, carefully considered the defendant's evidence, particularly his account of how he left the hotel premises on Jan. 25, 2019, and his incredible story about why he did not return to the hotel after the incident or report to the police station.

She claimed that the convict had no clear reason for fleeing to Port Harcourt the next day until his arrest.

The circumstantial evidence against the convict, she claimed, was unequivocal, positive, and irrefutably pointed to his guilt.

"The court believes that the defendant wrote the confessional statement (exhibit PW2a-c) and that his feeble attempt to retract same was to exonerate himself from the commission of the deadly act," she said.

“After a careful consideration of the facts in this case, I hereby find the defendant guilty of the two-count charge against him.

“The sentencing of the court upon you Jeffrey Ehizogie is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead."

According to the state prosecution, Mr Ehizogie and others who are still at large strangled UK returnee Ms Olusoga by beating her with a rope.

They also claimed that the convict strangled and struck Mr Omikunle to death.

He then took a key from his pocket and entered Ms Olusola's flat, strangling her to death.

The prosecution called four witnesses against the convict: hotel staff David Nkwor, ASP Chris Akpanomo, ASP Malik Aliyu, and Harrison Bruce.

The offence was in violation of Section 223 of the Lagos State Criminal Law of 2015.

(NAN)