Dr. Ramon Adedoyin, the owner of the Hilton Hotel in Ile Ife, has been found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.

The Osun State High Court, sitting in Osogbo on Tuesday, May 30th, convicted Dr. Ramon Adedoyin and three hotel employees for conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) student, Timothy Adegoke.

Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), traveled from Abuja to Ile-Ife in November 2021 to sit for his exam. He stayed at the hotel and hoped to stay there throughout the exam period. However, on November 7th, 2021, he was reported missing by the police when friends and family members were unable to reach him.

After his family raised the alarm, the police launched an investigation that led to the arrest of the hotel owner, Ramon Adedoyin, and six employees, and Adegoke’s body was later discovered.

In her ruling on Tuesday, the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo, acquitted three defendants — Magdalene Chiefuna, Lawrence Oluwole, and Adedeji Adesola — from the charges of conspiracy to commit murder.

She said that Adedoyin’s decision not to testify did not help his case as the circumstantial evidence had shifted the burden of proof onto him.

Judge Ojo also added that Adedoyin’s refusal to testify meant his approval of the murder charge brought against him by the prosecutors. The alibi put forward by his lawyer, according to which the owner of the hotel had been in Abuja for several days at the time of Adegoke’s death, was rejected.