Akolade Arowolo found guilty of wife murder, sentenced to death

Arowolo Akolade, the man who stabbed his banker wife to death on Friday June 24, 2011 after a domestic dispute at their home in Isolo, Lagos  has been found guilty of her murder and has been sentenced to death.

Akolade appeared before trial judge Justice Lateefat Okunnu of the Ikeja High Court this morning Friday Feb. 21 and was found guilty on one-count of murder. The judge said the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that he killed his wife.

"I pronounce the defendant guilty and accordingly sentenced to death,” Justice Okunnu pronounced. Akolade burst into tears after the verdict was read.

Akolade and Titilayo had been married for only two years and had a young daughter when he brutally attacked her with a knife on his birthday after they argued. Arolowo claimed in court that Titi had attacked him with the knife and eventually turned the knife on herself. The court didn't buy his story.

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More witnesses to testify against Arowolo, alleged killer of wife

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions said on Tuesday that it would call five more witnesses to testify against Akolade Arowolo, who allegedly murdered his banker wife, Titilayo. Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan, Director of DPP, announced this before an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, presided over by Justice Lateefat Okunnu. 

 Akolade was charged to court for allegedly stabbing his wife to death on June 24, 2011, at their 8, Akindeinde St. residence in Isolo, Lagos. He had pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder and was remanded in prison custody. During Tuesday’s proceedings, Ogungbesan apologised to the court for the absence of three prosecution witnesses expected to give evidence in the trial. According to her, two of the witnesses are police officers, while the remaining one is a female relative of the deceased.

 Ogungbesan said it was not the intention of the prosecution to stall the trial, adding that two other witnesses, including a pathologist, would be called before the prosecution closes its case. She assured the court that some of the witnesses would be available on Wednesday to continue with the trial, and therefore, asked for an adjournment.

 Arowolo’scounsel, Mr Olarenwaju Ajanaku, did not oppose the application for adjournment, but urged the prosecution to bring its witnesses to court on Wednesday. The DPP had earlier called seven witnesses to testify against the 31-year-old accused, since the trial began on Feb. 8. The witnesses included Titilayo’s father, George Oyakhire; her step mother, Adetoun Oyakhire; and her sister, Aidehi Oyakhire. Others were Saidu Husseini, the security guard at the residence of the Arowolos; Ademola Adeyemi, a neighbour; and two police officers– ASP Titus Ogbonna and Insp Gabriel Nyeche. The matter has been adjourned till Wednesday for continuation of trial.

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I saw husband’s hands soaked in blood, guard tells court

The trial of Mr. Akolade Arowolo, alleged to have killed his banker wife, Titilayo, last year continued, yesterday, with the security guard to their residence, telling the court that he saw Arowolo on the fateful day with his hands soaked in blood.

The security guard, Mr. Saidu Husseni, who was led in evidence by the state Director of Public Prosecution, Mrs. Olabisi Ogungbesan, informed the court that he saw Akolade washing blood off his hands while urging him to hurriedly open the gate and that he did not return to the house the same day.

He said: “I saw him cleaning his hands which was stained with blood and he told me to open the gate quickly so that he can drive out.”

Husseni told court that he later saw a blood soaked cloth and some irons stained with blood near Arowolo’s apartment in the four storey building.

Meanwhile, the court admitted as exhibits, the kitchen knife, which was allegedly used to kill the deceased, four mobile phones and photographs taken by the police at the scene of the murder.

Arowolo, is standing trial before Justice Lateefat Okunnu on a one-count charge of murder. He was alleged to have stabbed his wife to death on June, 24, 2011, at their Akindeinde Street, Isolo, Lagos.

Husseni, the fourth prosecution witness in the case, said he was at home on the day of the incident when Akolade and a friend earlier drove into the compound at mid-day and spent about an hour in his apartment before leaving hurriedly in his Honda Accord car and did not return to the house on that day.

The fifth witness, Mr. Titus Ogbonna, from Homicide Section, CID, Yaba , Lagos said he led the investigation after the matter was transferred to them from Aswani Police Station.

He said: “When we got to Aswani Police Station where the accused vehicle was kept as exhibit, we observed that there was blood stains on the wheel steering, the driver’s seat and on the floor of the driver’s side.

“We also discovered a N100 note stained with blood on the floor of the car, which was recovered and kept as exhibit.”

He said a police photographer; Gift Eneche, took photographs of the car and at the Arowolo’s residence, when the team later visited the place for further investigation that same day.

The matter was adjourned till March 20, for continuation of trial.

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