Story of How Oba Samuel Adeniran Asusumasa Atewogboye II Was Sentenced To Death For Killing A Baby For Ritual In 1949- By Damilare Joseph Okikiolakan
That was not all, the Crown counsel Crow also submitted that the confessional statement provided by Gabriel Olabirinjo and Ojo Olofa’s evidence was a total corroboration of the second accused person’s guilt.
And it gets more interesting as his lawyer, Bode Thomas, argued that his client made the statement under duress and so it should not be accepted as evidence. But again, Justice Pollard disagreed.
He stated that he was satisfied that the accused evidence was made voluntarily and freely. And without wasting time, the judge slammed him with a guilty verdict too. But Daniel Ojo was lucky, he was acquitted for lack of substantial evidence again him.
So what happened to the criminal king? As for Kabiyesi Oba Adeniran, the Crown counsel submitted that the evidence revealed clearly that he did not only have the intention to kill but also took part in the ritual murder of baby Adediwura.
He then directed the court to the evidence of Ojo Olofa and Owomobi. The prosecuting counsel further prayed to the court to take into consideration the countenance of the Oba which he said, already showed him as someone with guilty mind. Okay, now wait for this.
The lawyer to the king, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (yes the same African chief on the N100 naira note) fired back. He argued that since the king rendered helped the parents of the deceased and the parents by organizing a search part.
Awolowo said that alone was enough to wash the royal robe clean of all blood.
He did not stop there, he said as an Oba, it was possible that some of the enemies of the king wanted to deal with him by involving him in the gruesome killing.
Awolowo dismissed all the evidence presented against his client: he branded them as circumstantial.
However, to the disappointment of Awolowo, Justice Pollard did not agree with him. The judge said that saying some enemies in the town vowed to implicate the king in the murder was nothing but a baseless afterthought.
In short, the judge gave Awolowo and legal park well. The worst was yet to come for Awolowo and his client. The stern trial judge dropped the bomb when he eventually found the king guilty.
The king must have thought he was having a bad dream when Justice Pollard sentenced him to death. Also sentenced to the graves were the other accused persons.
Efon-Alaaye’s 43rd Alaaye, Kabiyesi Oba Samuel Adeniran Asusumasa Atewogboye II, his herbalist and one of his servants, Gabriel Olabirinjo, were all hanged to death for The Ritual Murder of 15-Month-Old Baby Girl Named Adediwura in 1949
