BEVERLY HILLS, June 26, (THEWILL) – A Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere has sentenced a Togolese cook, Sunday Adefonou Anani, to life imprisonment for the murder of his boss, the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Ltd, Ope Bademosi.
Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile convicted and sentenced the Togolese after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Anani confessed to the court that he stabbed Chief Bademosi to death in his Ikoyi residence, while trying to rob him on October 31, 2018.
He also confirmed that he was the person caught on a Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) fleeing the scene of the crime, after the murder.
The Lagos State Government had initially arraigned the Togolese on a two-count charge of murder and armed robbery which could have fetched him a death sentence conviction, but he struck a plea bargain deal shortly after the trial commenced.
The agreement followed consultation with his counsel, the Director of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Mrs Aderenra Adeyemi, who allowed him to admit for the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Justice Okikiolu-Ighile in his judgement said:
“It is annoying that a young man like this would involve himself in this kind of crime. What did he hope to achieve in life involving himself in this kind of crime, I ask? It is very painful that a young boy whom the family of Bademosi welcomed in their home as a cook ended up causing so much havoc and endless pain.
“It is even more painful that the defendant had no motive of working but came into the house with a criminal intention to steal to kill and to destroy.
“The defendant admitted ‘I killed him.’ This was an innocent and unsuspecting family.”
In Upholding the plea bargain and sentence agreement, the judge held that, “Sunday Adefonou Anani, defendant of this court, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. The term of imprisonment shall commence from today, June 25, 2019.”
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