Man bags eight years jail term for killing colleague over girlfriend

Man bags eight years jail term for killing colleague over girlfriend

A 24 - year- old man , Sodiq Salaudeen , was on Tuesday sentenced to eight years imprisonment for killing his friend during a fight over a girlfriend at Ijanikin area of Lagos .
The convict was sentenced by Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya of an Ikeja High Court , Lagos , after changing the initial charge of murder to manslaughter.
The judge observed that the three witnesses who testified before the court were not at the scene when the crime occurred .
He said , “ The court will be relying on the statement of the defendant which showed that he had no intention to kill the deceased .
“ The statement read and I quote , ‘ I used the iron from the Hausa man ’ s shop to stab him on the left side of his chest. I only wanted to scare him because I was being overpowered by him and his friends ; I did not intend to kill him .
“ The court is satisfied that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the defendant caused the death of the deceased . ”
Pronouncing the sentence , the judge , however , said that Salaudeen ’ s eight -year sentence will start from the day he was first detained for the crime.
“ The defendant is hereby sentenced to eight years in prison with effect from April 19 , 2012 . ”
Salaudeen , who was dressed in a white attire, had an expression of relief on his face after the sentence was pronounced .
Prior to the sentence , counsel to the convict , Mr K. O . Adebayo , had in his plea for leniency told the court that the convict committed the offence out of youthful exuberance .
“ The defendant is a young man with an aged father who has been a widower for quite some time.
“ The crime occurred as a result of youthful exuberance and there was no intention to kill .
“ Since the objective of punishment is to reform and not for retribution , I plea for a lighter sentence for the convict so that he can still be useful to the society . ”
According to the prosecutor , Mr Adebayo Haroun , the convict , who was 19 years old when the offence was committed, stabbed one Tope Akinyemi with a sharp object in his chest during a fight .
He said , “ The deceased and Salaudeen had attended the same secondary school and knew each other .
“ They developed a liking for the same girl and a rivalry developed between them which led to a fight with their friends joining .
“ When Salaudeen felt that Akinyemi was gaining an upper hand in the fight , he ran into the nearby kiosk of a Hausa trader to pick a sharp object which he used to stab the deceased once in the chest leading to his death . ”
During the trial , the Investigating Police Officer ( IPO) , Insp . Festus Imoru , confirmed that the fight that led to Akinyemi ’ s death was caused by a female .
“ During my investigations, I got to know that the two men were asking the unknown girl out and this led to a bitter rivalry between them.
“ Efforts to get the name of the girl who caused the fracas was , however , abortive , ” said the IPO .