A Lagos High Court on Thursday sentenced Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Ominikoron, to death by hanging for the 2022 murder of 22-year-old fashion designer, Oluwabamise Ayanwola.
Justice Serifat Sonaike, delivering the judgment at Tafawa Balewa Square, held that the Lagos State Government had successfully proven the murder charge beyond reasonable doubt.
“For the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you,” the judge declared.
Though no eyewitness directly observed the crime, the court relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, the medical examiner’s report, and the victim’s dying voice note, which placed Ominikoron as the last person seen with Bamise before her disappearance on February 26, 2022.
The court also found Ominikoron guilty of raping another passenger, 29-year-old Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, in November 2021, an incident that pointed to a pattern of sexual violence against female passengers.
While the court acquitted Ominikoron of raping Bamise, citing the absence of physical evidence of penetration or semen, it upheld the charge of attempted rape, which was backed by the distressing voice note Bamise sent before her death.
The judge also dismissed the prosecution’s conspiracy charge, stating that it was not sufficiently proven.
Led by Dr. Babajide Martins, Lagos State’s Director of Public Prosecution, the prosecution urged the court to apply the maximum sentence. Ominikoron’s counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, appealed for leniency, but the court opted for capital punishment.
