On Monday, July 17, Justice Christiana Obadina of an Osun State High Court seated in Ikire sentenced Phillips Segun, a clergyman with a church in Ikoyi-Ile, to death by hanging for conspiring with one Owolabi Adeeko, 23, to murder Favour Daley-Oladele, Adeeko's girlfriend.
The court condemned Adeeko, 23, to death by hanging for the savage killing of the final year Sociology student after enticing her to Ikire from Lagos, while his mother, Bola, 46 years old, was convicted for consuming human flesh.
The attorneys for the prosecution from the Ministry of Justice, managed by Mrs Adekemi Bello, presented nine eyewitnesses including the police investigating officer, and produced various exhibits before the court throughout the trial, while the prisoners testified in their separate defenses without calling any further witnesses. The prosecution told the court that Owolabi and Favour had been dating for approximately a month before he brought her to Ikire under the premise that she should come see his uncle, while Owolabi, his mother, and Prophet Segun had planned to murder her and use her body parts in a money ceremony. The prosecution team said that, unaware that her lover had plotted to murder her, she consented to accompany him to see his uncle. However, when they arrived at Ikire, Favour was slain in the church after Owolabi bashed her skull with a pestle and her organs were used for ritual before her remains had been buried in a shallow grave located near the church on December 8, 2019.
The prosecution team told the court that after arresting the suspects who confessed to the murder, the body was exhumed by the police and they were first arraigned before the court on November 15, 2021 on two counts bordering on conspiracy and murder in violation of sections 324 and 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 34 Laws of Osun State, 2002.
In her decision, Justice Obadina said that the prosecutor had proved her case beyond a reasonable doubt, and she convicted Prophet Philip Segun and Owolabi Adeeko guilty of murder and conspiracy, while Bola Adeeko was found guilty of consuming human flesh, which is against the law.
In his allocutor appeal, defence attorney Adeshina Olaniyan urged with the court to temper justice with compassion.
As a result, the presiding Judge condemned Prophet Philip and Owolabi to die by execution for murder and 14 years in jail for conspiracy. She also sentenced Owolabi's mother, Bola, to two years in jail for consuming human flesh.
It should be remembered that following his arrest, Owolabi described how he exploited his girlfriend to cook a meal for money ritual known as "victory soup" for himself and his mother.
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