Vigilante members sentenced to death for brutally killing herbalist in Ogun

Two members of a vigilante group who brutally murdered a herbalist
in Ogun have been sentenced to death.
The duo of Seyi Oyeneye and David Oyedele were sentenced to die
by hanging over the 2006 murder of one Semiu Babatunde, a
herbalist.

The deceased was stopped by the vigilante along with his brother
who managed to escape. Babatunde was then shot in the mouth and
hacked to death by the convicts.

Leadership reports :
Delivering his judgement, the presiding Judge, Abiodun Akinyemi,
said the vigilante members were culpable in the murder.
The accused persons were said to have killed the herbalist in
Olorombo village, Ijeun-Tuntun area of Abeokuta around 9pm in
January 2006, when they accosted the deceased and his younger
brother and ordered them to stop.

LEADERSHIP gathered that in the ensuing argument, the vigilante
men brutalised the herbalist while his younger brother escaped from
the scene and reported the matter to their septuagenarian father.
Before help could come, the deceased was tied down and shot by
one of the accused persons in the mouth. He was also macheted
several times on the head while people of the neighbourhood took to
their heels.

The herbalist was said to have died at the gate of the Federal
Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, before doctors could attend to
him.
The police subsequently arrested the vigilante members, who pleaded
not guilty to the two-count charge filed against them by the Director
of Public Prosecution (DPP), Oludayo Osunfisan.

The police prosecutor told the court that the offence was contrary to
Sections 324 and 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the
Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State, 2006.
Delivering judgement, Justice Akinyemi found the accused persons
guilty of the two-count charges of conspiracy and murder.