An Ondo State High Court, yesterday, sentenced two security guards to death by hanging for killing their employer, Mr. Kwaku Richard Kwakye, as well as his daughter, Tope Kwakye, in the state.
The convicts, Tasur Abubakar, 26, and Ayuba Idris, 23, were found guilty for their involvement in the deceased’s death. The convicts were arraigned before the court on a four-count charge of armed robbery, murder, and conspiracy.
According to the prosecuting counsel, John Joshua, the convicts, who were security guards, committed the crime on May 1, 2019, at Ojomo Akintan Estate, Olu Foam axis on Ilesha/Owo expressway, Akure, the state capital.
Joshua had informed the court that the decomposing corpses of the 71-year-old Kwaku and his 27-year-old graduate daughter, Tope, were recovered by police detectives 16 days after they were strangled to death by the two security guards, who were securing their compound.
The state counsel also disclosed that Ayuba was arrested in Kano State, where he fled after committing the crime, while Abubakar was arrested in Sokoto State. He added that the handset and the clothes of Kwakye were recovered from Ayuba, after which they both confessed to the crime.
During interrogation, the convicts confessed: “We took tramadol and Indian hemp that night at about 8:00 p.m., and we invited the daughter to come and see who was at the gate.
“When she came down, we used wire to strangle her. She shouted, and this attracted her father, who came running to the scene. We then descended on the father, who fell inside the gutter, and we killed him there.
“We later hid their corpses under the staircase in the estate and fled with some of their belongings.” Delivering the judgment, Justice Williams Olamide said the prosecution did not successfully prove counts one and two against the convicts.
While discharging them on the charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, Justice Olamide said the convicts were guilty of the offense of conspiracy to commit felony and murder as contained in count three and sentenced them to seven years imprisonment.
The judge also found them guilty of the murder charge in count four and subsequently sentenced them to death by hanging.
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