Court Sentences three to death by hanging for killing Funke Olakunrin

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital, has sentenced three persons to death for killing Olufunke Olankurin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

While four persons were accused of the crime, the trial judge, Justice William Olamide on Friday, discharged and acquitted one of them, DailyTimes gathered.

Olufunke Olankurin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, was shot dead on July 12 2019 while traveling between Kajola and Ore, along Ondo/Ore Highway.

The Ondo State Government had in April 2020 arraigned the suspect and now-convicts at a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Akure.

The development came one week after police operatives announced their arrest. The then-Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said they were arrested after the police established enough physical and forensic evidence linking them to her death.

He explained that the investigators later conducted an Identification Parade in Lagos on April 8, leading to the positive and physical identification of three of them by a survivor of an earlier crime.

According to him, the survivor gave a clear description of the roles each of them played in the killing.

“At this point, they capitulated and voluntarily offered a no-holds-barred confession on how Mrs Funke Olakunrin was killed,” he said as of then.