An Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Tuesday sentenced a B\u00e9ninoise cook, Sunday Anani, to life imprisonment for the murder of his employer, the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Ltd., Opeyemi Bademosi.<\/p>\n
Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile convicted Anani following his plea of guilty to a one-count charge of voluntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n
Anani, 22, was initially charged by the Lagos State Government on two counts of murder and armed robbery.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty but when trial began, Anani entered a plea bargain agreement for a lesser charge.<\/p>\n
He then pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with the help of his counsel, Mrs Aderenra Adeyemi, the Director of the Office Defender<\/p>\n
He, therefore, confessed that he stabbed Chief Bademosi to death in his Ikoyi, Lagos, home, while trying to rob him.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that he was the person caught on closed-circuit television camera fleeing the scene of the crime.<\/p>\n
The defendant\u2019s initial plea of not guilty would have fetched him a death sentence by hanging, if found guilty.<\/p>\n
Before sentencing the defendant, the court asked his counsel, if he had an allocutus \u2013 plea for leniency.<\/p>\n
Adeyemi said: \u201cThe defendant is a young man and he is remorseful about what he has done. He is a first-time offender, there is no evidence that he committed any crime before this.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur humble application is to urge your lordship to grant a sentence of years certain. However, if my lordship is mindful of upholding what we have agreed in the plea bargain, we will accept the sentence therein.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey, opposed the prayer.<\/p>\n
Shitta-Bey said: \u201cWe urge this court to grant the maximum sentence for the offence of voluntary manslaughter as charged.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that there were some \u201cspecial aggravating circumstances\u201d surrounding the case, such as breach of trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant was employed into the home of his boss, entrusted with a high level of responsibilities as a cook.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarely three days after resumption of duty, the defendant cut short the life of a man that gave him a new lease of life, depriving him the privilege of enjoying life with his wife and children.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudicial notice must be taken of the fact that this act of violence by domestic employees against their employers is becoming rampant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sentence must reflect that this conduct is unacceptable to our society; we must send the message to others of like minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
After, the submissions, Okikiolu-Ighile passed judgement on Anani.<\/p>\n
The judge said: \u201cit is annoying that a young man like this will involve himself in this kind of crime. What did he hope to achieve in life involving himself in this kind of crime, I ask?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very painful that a young man, who the family of Bademosi welcomed in their home as a cook, ended up causing so much havoc and endless pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is even more painful that the defendant had no motive of working but came into the house with a criminal intention to steal, kill and to destroy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant admitted, \u2018I killed him.\u2019 This was an innocent and unsuspecting family\u201d.<\/p>\n
Upholding the plea bargain and sentence agreement, the judge held: \u201cSunday Adefonou Anani is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe term of imprisonment shall commence from today, June 25, 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecution had said that the defendant committed the murder on Oct. 31, 2018, at Park View Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.<\/p>\n
It said that the defendant stabbed the deceased, aged 67, to death with a knife, and stole his valuables, in contravention of Sections 223 and 297 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.<\/p>\n
The prosecution called two witnesses, including the deceased\u2019s wife Ebunola Bademosi, who testified as to how she found her husband in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n
While trial was going on, the defendant through a letter dated May, 20, written through his counsel, expressed his willingness to voluntarily plead guilty to a lesser offence, which was thereafter accepted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Tuesday sentenced a B\u00e9ninoise cook, Sunday Anani, to life imprisonment for the murder of his employer, the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Ltd., Opeyemi Bademosi. Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile convicted Anani following his plea of guilty to a one-count charge of voluntary manslaughter. Anani, 22, was initially charged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":104800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[49578,46811,46834],"yoast_head":"\n