- Governor Adeleke had pardoned Olowookere and Morakinyo after the convicts’ parents begged for clemency claiming their sons are innocent
The Osun State High Court has refuted viral reports claiming a young man, Olowookere Segun, was sentenced to death for stealing a fowl.
This is just as the State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, announced on Thursday that Olowookere and his co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo, had been granted a pardon by the state government.
For weeks on end, the conventional media and social media have been awash with reports of Segun purported death sentence, a judgment many deemed an overkill because of how disproportionate it was to the crime the defendants were punished for.
In a statement titled, “Setting the Record Straight,” issued by it registrar, Omisade F. I., the State High Court, refuted claims that it had sentenced the duo to death for stealing a fowl.
It described the claims as false and maliciously distorted.
Although the trial, which spanned from February 11, 2013, to December 17, 2014, found the duo guilty of multiple armed robberies, including an armed robbery at a poultry, the judgement sparked controversy a decade later, with many Nigerians expressing outrage.
Responding to public uproar, the court clarified that Olowookere and his accomplice, Morakinyo, were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for armed robbery by the High Court of Justice, Ikirun Judicial Division, presided over by Hon. Justice S.O. Falola.
The court rebuttal is contrary to the widespread reports claiming they were convicted for stealing a fowl.
The statement read, “The succinct fact of this case was that the boy, Olowookere, and one other person, Morakinyo Sunday, were going about in Oyan town and its neighbourhood robbing innocent and unsuspecting people at gunpoint.
“Luck ran out on them in April 2010 when they were caught in action while robbing a poultry. Arms were recovered from them. They equally confessed to committing several armed robberies.
“The facts of the case have been distorted and maliciously misrepresented to the generality of the people. What has been laid before the public domain is that this boy was convicted and sentenced to death for stealing one fowl.
“An educated person does not need to be a lawyer before being well informed to know as a fact that a person cannot be sentenced to death for stealing a fowl, not even N1bn, without being armed at the time of committing the crime.”
The court explained that armed robbery crime attracts a mandatory death sentence if the accused is armed, leaving the judge no discretion after conviction.
Clarifying details about the defendants’ ages, the statement revealed that Olowookere was 17 years old at the time of his arrest in 2010, contrary to claims that he was a minor while his accomplice, Sunday, was 18 years old at the time of arrest and trial.
“The said Olowookere, the first accused person in suit No. HKK/2/2012, was 17 years old at the time of the trial, which has been blown out of proportion and is nothing but nauseating falsehood.
“He was in fact 17 years old at the time he was arrested and made to stand trial. His extrajudicial statement and the information upon which they were tried attest to this. The second accused person, Morakinyo, was 18 years old as at that time.
“What is more, his age or that of the second accused person was never an issue before the court at any stage of the trial. It is, therefore, a desperate design to whip up underserved sentiment,” the statement added.
The court stressed that the judge, in addition to delivering the mandatory sentence, recommended the convicts for clemency, demonstrating compassion and fairness within the confines of the law.
The court added, “The entire scenario woven around this case has been skewed to malign the personality of the trial judge and denigrate the Osun State High Court as an institution.
“The trial judge, in His Lordship’s characteristic magnanimity, large heart, and fatherly disposition, did what the law prescribed and went further to recommend them for the mercy of the governor.”
The court further urged the public to verify facts before drawing conclusions and cautioned against spreading misinformation aimed at undermining judicial integrity.
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