After four-year remand, Lagos pastor, accomplice re-arraigned for beheading boy

A Lagos-based pastor, Erinmole Adetokunbo, has been re-arraigned before the Lagos State Special Offences Court for allegedly beheading a seven-year-old boy in the Ikorodu area of the state.

Adetokunbo was arraigned alongside one Adedoyin Oyekanmi on three counts bordering on conspiracy and murder.

PUNCH Metro had reported that Oyekanmi and Adetokunbo allegedly lured the boy from his parents’ house on Sotunyo Street to the church’s premises on Oke-Oniburokun Street, Odokekere, Ikorodu.

They were said to have beheaded him and buried his head around the church’s altar, while the body was kept in a canal.

Adetokunbo was later apprehended by residents, as he allegedly confessed to the crime and named Oyekanmi as his accomplice.

The duo were said to have led detectives to the church, where the victim’s remains were recovered, while a mob destroyed the church.

The men were arraigned before the Lagos State Magistrate’s Court, Ebute-Meta, on three counts bordering on murder.

The Magistrate, O. A. Fowowe-Erusiafe, had ordered that the two defendants be remanded in custody pending the release of legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

However, after four years of being remanded in a custodial centre, the case was transferred to the special offences court, where they were arraigned afresh before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The charges read in part, “That you, Adedoyin Oyekanmi and Erinmole Adetokunbo, on June 7, 2017, around 2pm on Oke-Oniburokun Street, Odokekere, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the Ikeja jurisdiction, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony, to wit: murder, thereby committing an offence.

“That you, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned jurisdiction, did kill one Kazeem Rafiu, aged seven, by cutting off his head with a cutlass, thereby committing an offence.

“That you, without lawful justification or excuse, dismembered the remains of one Kazeem Rafiu, aged seven.”

Following the pleas of the duo, Justice Taiwo adjourned the matter till November 6, 2021, for the commencement of trial.

Oluwatosin Omojuyigbe, Punch News