Court sentences Togolese cook to life imprisonment

Peter Fowoyo, Lagos

Eight months after the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Switch Limited, Ope Bademosi, an Igbosere High Court, Lagos has sentenced a Togolese cook, Sunday Adefonou Anani, to life imprisonment.

Anani confessed to the court that he stabbed Chief Bademosi to death in his Ikoyi, Lagos home, while trying to rob him on October 31, 2018. He also confirmed that he was the person caught on closed circuit television fleeing the scene of the crime after the murder.

Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile convicted Anani following his plea of guilty to a one-count charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Anani was originally arraigned on a two-count charge of murder and armed robbery which could have fetched him a sentence of death by hanging on conviction, but he struck a plea bargain deal with the Lagos state government soon after trial commenced.

The agreement which followed consultations with his counsel, Mrs. Aderenra Adeyemi, allowed him to admit the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The court asked the defence counsel if the cook, who only speaks French had an allocutus and she answered that “the defendant is a young man and he is remorseful about what he has done. He is a first time offender, there is no evidence that he committed any crime before this.

“Our humble application is to urge your lordship to grant a sentence of years certain. However, if my lordship is mindful of upholding what we have agreed in the plea bargain, we will accept the sentence therein.”

But, the Lagos state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Titilayo Shitta-Bey opposed the prayer, stating that “we urge this court to grant the maximum sentence for the offence of voluntary manslaughter as charged.

“The defendant was employed into the home of his boss, entrusted with a high level of responsibilities as a cook.

Barely three days after resumption of duty, the defendant cut short the life of a man that gave him a new lease of life, depriving him the privilege of enjoying life with his wife and children which the deceased was entitled to.

“Judicial notice must be taken of the fact that this act of violence by domestic employees against their employers is becoming rampant.

The sentence must reflect that this conduct is unacceptable to our society and we must send the message to others of like minds like the defendant,” she added.

However, the judge in his ruling observed that “it is annoying that a young man like this would involve himself in this kind of crime. What did he hope to achieve in life involving himself in this kind of crime, I ask?

It is very painful that a young boy whom the family of Bademosi welcomed in their home as a cook ended up causing so much havoc and endless pain.

“It is even more painful that the defendant had no motive of working, but came into the house with a criminal intention to steal, to kill and to destroy. The defendant admitted killing the deceased. This was an innocent and unsuspecting family.”

Upholding the plea bargain and sentence agreement, the judge sentenced Anani to life imprisonment.