An Osun State High Court sitting in Ede has sentenced two friends, Oluwashina Wakeel and Yusuf Adewale, to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy and assaulting a road user, AbdulSalam Oyewale.
The convicts, who first appeared before the court in March 2023, were arraigned on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, attempted murder, and assault occasioning harm.
They, however, pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial during which the prosecution called four witnesses, while the defendants testified in their defense without calling any witnesses.
A certified true copy of the judgment, delivered by Justice Kudirat Akano, revealed that the attack occurred on September 19, 2022, along Ibode Poly Road, Ede.
Oyewale told the court that he was on a motorcycle with one Usman Abdulbasit around 11 am when a black Toyota Corolla overtook and blocked their path.
One of the defendants alighted, seized his motorcycle key, and began assaulting him. Others in the car soon joined, beating him and inserting a stick into his right eye, causing severe damage.
In his quest for treatment, Oyewale said he visited hospitals in Osogbo, Ibadan, and Lagos, but was informed that his eye was beyond repair.
The prosecution team, led by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary of the Osun State Ministry of Justice, Morufat Bello, tendered nine exhibits to establish its case.
Counsel to the convicts, Ayodele Laogun, pleaded for leniency, arguing that his clients were first-time offenders with families and dependents.
In her ruling, Justice Akano convicted Wakeel and Adewale on six out of the seven charges, reducing the count of attempted murder to assault occasioning harm.
“The defendants are each found guilty of the offences as charged, except on count 2, which has been reduced from attempted murder to assault occasioning harm,” the judge ruled
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