Man sentenced to death by hanging for murder of 7 DSS officers in Lagos

On Tuesday, Department of State Services (DSS) officials were killed, and Clement Ododomu was sentenced to death by hanging by Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

Additionally, Tiwei Monday was given a 16-year sentence at a penitentiary facility by the judge.

Judge Oshodi stated that he rendered the decision after taking into account the evidence presented in court as well as the defendants’ behaviour, which he described as “unremorseful.”

The judge stated that Dr. Babajide Martins, the Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP), had responded to the allocutus by Defence Counsel Olusegun Akande, who had begged for the court to balance justice with mercy on October 11.

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The inmates, who are vandals, were charged with the murder of seven Department of State Services (DSS) officials in the state’s Ikorodu region, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

According to Justice Oshodi, Martins informed the court that the defendants’ offences were serious and that the maximum terms should be imposed.

“The court has considered the defence counsel’s argument, but the law’s position is binding on all of us,” the judge declared. As previously mentioned, counts one, five, seven, nine, and ten were found guilty for the first defendant, and counts one and ten were found guilty for the second.

This is according on the data that was submitted on January 13, 2017. The following are the legal provisions included in this section:

The first and second defendants on the count were found guilty on count I.

“This offence is presented in violation of Section 233 of the Lagos State 2015 Criminal Laws, and it carries a 14-year sentence upon conviction.

“The first defendant on counts five and seven is guilty of these counts in violation of Section 233 of the Lagos State 2015 Criminal Laws, which states that a murderer will be executed.”

Judge Oshodi states that the first defendant on count nine is charged under Section 298(3) of the Lagos State, 2015 Criminal Laws, and as such, faces a minimum sentence of 14 years and a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.

Furthermore, count 10 saw the conviction of both the first and second offenders under Section 410 of the Lagos State, 2015 Criminal Laws, which carries a two-year jail sentence.

He said that the defense’s assertion that the defendants were in Lagos for their grandmother’s funeral was a lie.

According to Justice Oshodi, the defence did not present crucial witnesses to support the assertion.

But he concluded that the prosecution had not been able to establish the second defendant’s culpability of murder.

According to Justice Oshodi, the evidence presented in court demonstrated that Agbala, the first defendant, was the one who killed the operatives.

He ruled that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to establish the two defendants’ involvement in the operatives’ ambush.

As a result, he dismissed the charges against the convicts on counts two, three, four, six, and eight and found them not guilty because the prosecution could not substantiate their accusations.

The court concluded that the defendants had no regrets about the accusations they were facing based on their behaviour, according to Justice Oshodi.

Despite the fact that they were both speaking English on the recording, they told the judge they could not understand the language.

“By this sentence, the first and second defendants are hereby sentenced to two years in prison for count nine and to fourteen years in prison for count ten.”

“This sentence of twenty years in jail is imposed upon the first defendant. Both defendants will serve their jail sentences simultaneously.

“You are to be hanged by the neck until you die, and may God have mercy on your soul. This is the court’s sentence upon you for counts five and seven, for which the court has found the first defendant guilty.”

According to NAN, the Lagos State Government said that on September 14, 2015, an editor of the Sun newspaper (name withheld) called the DSS in despair regarding his wife’s kidnapping at their home.

According to reports, the State Command of the DSS thereafter sent out a nine-person squad to conduct surveillance in order to locate the kidnappers who were attempting to extract a ransom.

The prosecution further stated that it was learned that one of the DSS team members, Mr. Martins Ajayi, had texted the command headquarters in distress that evening, claiming that the team had been ambushed by vandals and that their weapons had been taken.

The prosecution claims that on September 14, 2015, at Ishawo Creek, Ikorodu, Lagos, the defendants committed the charges.

The defendants were charged with ten counts of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and unlawful firearm possession, all of which are under Lagos State’s 2015 Criminal Law Sections 223 and 298 (3).