NEWS Timothy Adegoke: Another defendant sentenced to two years imprisonment

Adedeji Adesola has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Osun State High Court in Osogbo. Adesola was found guilty of altering the receipt issued to Timothy Adegoke before his death at Hilton Hotels in Ile-Ife, Osun State. This judgment follows the high-profile sentencing on Tuesday, in which Rahman Adedoyin, the Chairman of the hotel, and two others were sentenced to death by hanging.

Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, died under mysterious circumstances in November 2021. He had lodged at Hilton Hotels, owned by Rahman Adedoyin, where he allegedly lost his life. After his classmates discovered that he did not show up for class, he was declared missing on November 7, 2021.

During the trial, it was revealed that Adesola fabricated another receipt under the direction of her employer, Rahman Adedoyin, to conceal any evidence of the deceased’s death from the police. The Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo, handed Adesola a two-year jail term, starting from the first day of her detention since the commencement of the trial.

Adesola was one of seven defendants arraigned on charges of conspiracy, murder, felony, among others. The other defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. The investigation by the police revealed that Adegoke had informed his family of his plans to stay at Hilton Hotels in Ife, his usual accommodation when visiting the town.

The case file number was substituted, and the trial continued with Adesola being the seventh defendant. During the investigation, the hotel initially denied that the deceased had been lodged there until evidence of payment transactions was discovered. The police also found a white Hilux van allegedly used to transport Adegoke’s body, which was later recovered in an undisclosed location in Abuja. Raheem Adedoyin, the son of the hotel owner and the Managing Director of the hotel, reportedly supervised the dumping of Adegoke’s body in a shallow grave along the Ife highway before it was discovered by the police.

Raheem Adedoyin, Esther Asigoh, and Quadiri Moshood, who are wanted by the police for the alleged murder of Timothy Adegoke, remain at large. Adedeji Adesola will serve her jail term at the Ilesa Correctional Facility in Ilesa.