The trial of eight person arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 24-year-old University of Ilorin student, Olajide Blessing Omowumi will commence today at the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.
The defendants are Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Oluwatimileyin (aka Jacklord), Oyeyemi Omogbolahan, Abdulkarim Shuaib (aka Easy), Kareem Rasheed (Rashworld), Abdullateef Abdulrahman, Daud Adebayo (aka Bashman) and Akande Taiye Oladoja.
They were arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Yusuf led court yesterday on an eleven count charges which borders on murder, rape, armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms, among others.
The defendants, who were brought to court last week Wednesday, could not be arraigned because of the inability of three defendants to produce legal representation.
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Ismail, Oluwatimileyin and Omogbolahan, were alleged to have conspired among themselves, “to rob one Olajide Gloria Blessing Omowumi also known as ‘Wumi’ (now deceased) of her Samsung Galaxy A2 Core handset and carted away other items, including one black Acer Aspire laptop, one Samsung drive, one pink wireless mouse, one white handheld mini-sewing machine, one Infinix charger and one gold colour Wintouch tab, while armed with weapons, including a black wooden gun.”
The prosecution alleged that the five others aided and abetted the receipt of the stolen items.
Ismail, Rasheed and Shuaib were also accused of stealing N116,000 from the GTB account of the deceased.
All the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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The prosecution, led by the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, filed an application to call three witnesses.
Mr Sikiru Solagberu, counsel for Adebayo, who was charged with aiding and abetting and receiving stolen property, informed the court of a bail application pending before it, urging the judge to grant his client bail in liberal terms.
In a short ruling, Justice Yusuf dismissed the bail request for lack of merit noting that the case borders on a capital offence.
Justice Yusuf subsequently ordered that all the defendants should be remanded in prison custody.
The judge said the trial would run everyday.
