A criminal convict identified as James Ofem, who was part of a notorious robbery gang terrorising residents and motorists on the Ondo/Ore road, has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Akure High Court.
According to reports, Ofem who is a culprit convicted for armed robbery, and his gang had been on the security watch list for a while now.
The presiding judge at the Akure High Court, Justice Williams Olamide, who gave the judgement on Thursday, said Ofem was guilty of the two-count charge against him – conspiracy and armed robbery.
He said the witnesses brought to court to testify on the case made allusions to use of arms in the robbery attacks executed by Ofem.
Justice Olamide said further that the prosecution had proven the robbery case beyond reasonable doubt with evidence that the accused was indeed guilty of the crime.
Wale Bamisile, the prosecutor from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Ondo State Ministry of Justice, recalled how Ofem and his gang conspired to rob Alhaji Adamu Mustapha of his CoolPad phone, Infinix and Nokia handsets.
Adamu Mustapha, who was also in the court and served as witness to corroborate the prosecutor’s account, explained that he and a colleague were waylaid by Ofem’s gang around Liyetu village, located on Ondo/Ore road.
Mustapha added that the gang barricaded the road and their bus rammed into it. Afterwards, the hoodlums emerged from the bush, beat them mercilessly and robbed two of them of their personal belongings.
“We reported the case to the police station at Enuowa Division in Ondo town and a few days later, they called us that they had recovered the stolen items and also arrested the culprits,”Mustapha stated.
Franklin Alabi, a sergeant also from Enuowa Station, tendered all the exhibits recovered from the suspect before the Akure High Court.
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