Andrew Ominikoron, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, was found guilty and given the death penalty by the Lagos High Court in Tafawa Balewa Square for the murder of fashion designer Bamise Ayanwola, age 22.
The judge held, “that for the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you.”
In a ruling that lasted more than two and a half hours, Justice Serifat Sonaike ruled that the Lagos State Government, the prosecution, had proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court relied on a number of circumstantial evidence, the pathologist’s testimony, and the victim’s final declaration, all of which the judge determined pointed exclusively to the defendant as the last person to see her before she passed away on February 26, 2022, despite the lack of eyewitness accounts of the incident.
According to the extrajudicial statements of two victims of the defendant’s crime, Ozuzulu’s testimony and the horrifying voicemail that Bamise sent out shortly before she passed away, the court observed that the defendant had a history of raping female passengers in his BRT vehicle.
The voice note, according to the court, demonstrated that Bamise had not given his consent for sexual relations with the defendant.
However, the court determined that neither the medical records nor the semen recovered from the deceased Bamise indicated that she had been penetrated.
It claimed that this indicated that the rape had either failed or not been completed.
As a result, the court judged the defendant guilty of the lesser crime of attempted rape, which the prosecution was able to show, but dismissed him for the rape of the late Bamise.
In addition, the court dismissed the defendant for conspiracy, stating that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence.
Abayomi Omotubora, the defence attorney, argued in his allocutus that the judge should balance justice with mercy, while the prosecution, led by Dr. Babajide Martins, the Director of Public Prosecution in Lagos, had asked the court to impose the maximum penalty.
