A Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has sentenced Andrew Ominikoron, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, to death by hanging for the murder of 22-year-old fashion designer Oluwabamise Ayanwola.
Delivering judgment in the case on Thursday, Justice Serifat Sonaike ruled that the prosecution, led by the Lagos State Government, proved beyond reasonable doubt that Ominikoron was responsible for Bamise’s death.
The judge declared, “that for the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you.”
Although there was no eyewitness to the actual killing, the court relied on multiple pieces of circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of a pathologist and the victim’s dying declaration.
Justice Sonaike said these pointed clearly to the defendant as “the last person to see her before her death on February 26, 2022.”
In addition to the murder conviction, the court also found Ominikoron guilty of raping a 29-year-old woman, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, on November 25, 2021.
The court observed that the defendant had a documented history of sexual violence against female passengers in his BRT vehicle.
This was supported by the extra-judicial statements of two victims, as well as the chilling voice note Bamise sent shortly before her death, which the court said illustrated clearly that she did not consent to sexual intercourse with the defendant.
However, regarding the allegation that Ominikoron raped Bamise before killing her, the court held that the prosecution did not sufficiently prove this specific charge.
“Medical reports neither showed that the late Bamise was penetrated nor was any semen found in her,” the judge said.
This, the court concluded, indicated that either “the action of rape was not concluded or that it failed.”
As a result, Ominikoron was discharged on the charge of rape but found guilty of the lesser offence of attempted rape, which the prosecution successfully proved.
The court also acquitted the defendant on the count of conspiracy, stating that the evidence presented did not establish the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
The prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecution in Lagos State, Dr. Babajide Martins, urged the court to impose the maximum sentence on the defendant.
In response, defence counsel Abayomi Omotubora appealed for leniency, asking the court to “temper justice with mercy.”
