Alleged murder: ‘These are fresh human head, human legs,’ second defendant admits in court

The second defendant in an ongoing murder case at Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, Opeyemi Ramoni, popularly known as Alubarika, on Monday admitted that the human head and human legs that he was holding in pictures taken by law enforcement agents and tendered as exhibits were fresh.

His response followed questions asked by the Oyo State Attorney-General, Mr Abiodun Aikomo, who led the prosecution team. He was shown the pictures tendered as exhibits and told: “Look at this picture, what can you see?

He replied: “Human head.” He was asked again: “Is it fresh?” to which he responded: “Yes.”

He was given the second picture and asked: “What again can you see?” to which he replied: “Human legs.”

“Were they fresh or rotten?,” he was asked. He replied: “In the picture, they were fresh.”

The continued hearing was of the case for which he and the first defendant, Tayo Akinrinola, are standing trial at Court 9, presided over by Justice M.I. Sule, on a four-count charge of conspiracy, murder, unlawful possession of human head and indecent interference with dead human body.

The man told them to take me to the station.

“When we got there, they said they no longer wanted N200,000 but N1 million. They said they would allow me to call those who would support me in raising the money. I told them that I didn’t have the money to give them because I didn’t know anything about the matter. The policeman who met us there said: ‘Sebi iwo ni olugbeja (you’re the one that knows how to defend).’ I was thereafter locked in a cell.

“Between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m., they told me to look for the money at daybreak or else I would not like what would happen to me. In the morning, three police officers came to the cell entrance. One of them said I was the one dragging land issues with others at Alapata Community at Apete where I was living. He said it’s better for me to look for the money. I told them I had no money to give and they left.

“An hour later, I was picked from the cell. About 15 minutes after, they brought me and Akinrinola out. The human head was placed on my vehicle. They sprinkled petrol on it because of flies. Some of them recorded us with their phones, after which they asked us to pack the body parts in the bag they were brought out of. They took us to State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku. On getting there, they handed us over to police officers that were there. They took the pictures of the three of us with the head and individually. Thereafter, they took us to the cell. It was at about 11 a.m. on October 17.

“Thereafter, they took Tayo to another place. About two and a half hours later, they brought me and Taofeek Olalekan out to take our statements. I met the police officer that led the SRS team that arrested Tayo. They asked me to explain what happened and when I spoke, they said I should say the same thing the police officer said. I refused and they asked me to pull off my clothes. They started beating me. They tightened the handcuffs holding my hands and hit me with sticks. They told me that what they were doing to me was incomparable to that of Tayo, and I should follow them to see.

“I got there and saw him lying down, with his tightly-cuffed hands tied to a chair. His head was bleeding. I saw pick axe, machete and sticks used in beating him. They asked if I wanted to be treated that way and I said no. I told them I would cooperate but they should remember that those who arrested me asked for N1 million. They told me they could not write that. They wrote what they wanted and told me to sign and I did.”

On his claim that he was not arrested with Akinrinola, Olalekan and the sack containing the human parts while they were all together in his car, the prosecution team leader asked him why he didn’t go back to his house when he got to Agbarigo and was told what Tayo did, he replied that the police didn’t release him.

The judge adjourned the case until April 15 for the final written address.