About three years after, 42-year-old prophet Segun Philip, and 23-year-old student of Lagos State University (LASU), Owolabi Adeeko, were on Monday sentenced to death by hanging by an Osun State High Court sitting in Ikire, for killing Favour Daley-Oladele for ritual purposes.
Justice Christiana Obadina, who delivered judgement on the case, also sentenced Owolabi’s mother, Mrs. Bola Adeeko, to two years jail term for eating human flesh.
Favour was Owolabi’s girlfriend and a final year student at LASU. They met in LASU and were dating before he invited her over to Ikoyi, an area in Osun State in December 2019.
While on the visit, Favour was lured to Philip, the prophet’s church in Ikoyi, where she was drugged and killed with a pestle.
The duo harvested some organs from her and later buried her remains in a shallow grave within the church premises.
It was gathered that the organs harvested from the deceased were used to prepare concoctions for Owolabi’s mother to improve her business fortune.
Following their arrest, the suspects confessed to the crime, which led to the exhumation of Favour’s body by the police.
The three convicts were arrested and first arraigned before a magistrate court in Apomu in January 2020. They were re-arraigned before the High Court, Ikire, in November 2021, on the charges of conspiracy and murder.
The prosecution team during a trial led by the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Adekemi Bello, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on December 8, 2019.
Bello also told the court that the Ogun State Police Command arrested Philip alongside Owolabi, and that Owolabi, during an interrogation, confessed that he used his girlfriend to prepare concoction for a money ritual for his mother.
Delivering her judgement, Justice Christiana Obadina said that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore pronounced Prophet Philip and Owolabi guilty of murder and conspiracy.
She sentenced the duo to death by hanging for murder and 14-year imprisonment for conspiracy.
Mrs. Bola Adeeko, found guilty of eating human flesh, was sentenced to two-year imprisonment.
