The trial of one Adekunle Mohammed, a 39-year-old resident of Olorisa Oko in the Moniya area of Ibadan Oyo State continued during the week amid shocking details of alleged ritual killings that rattled the community in August 2024.

Mohammed was arrested on August 8, 2024, by detectives of the Oyo State Police Command following complaints by residents who reported a persistent foul odour emanating from a well he had dug in front of his house. The residents had initially alerted operatives of the Amotekun Corps, who accompanied them to lodge a formal complaint at the Moniya Divisional Police Headquarters.

Investigations subsequently led to Mohammed’s arrest. The following day, police detectives, alongside Amotekun personnel and community members, reportedly searched his residence. Items said to have been recovered from the house included a knife, animal horns containing charms, and a plastic bottle filled with a substance suspected to be human blood.

The search extended to the well within the premises, where hired hands were engaged to descend into it. In what authorities described as a gruesome discovery, three mutilated and decomposed human bodies were recovered. One of the victims was later identified by family members through the clothing found on the remains.

According to the police, Mohammed allegedly confessed during interrogation to carrying out the killings in collaboration with accomplices said to be at large. He further claimed that the four other defendants standing trial alongside him were buyers of the victims’ body parts.

The prosecution told the court that Mohammed, who described himself as a herbalist and Islamic teacher, admitted to killing seven persons since February 2024, stating that he directly participated in five of the alleged murders before his arrest.

Prosecution Witness Four (PW4), ASP Oladunjoye Segun, on Friday, February 6, was in the witness box at the continued hearing of the murder and sale of human parts case at the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, before Justice Ladiran Akintola. He told the court about the confessions of the five defendants and how they allegedly sold the body parts of murdered victims at different prices.

Other defendants standing trial with Mohammed are Muniru Salaudeen, Rashidat Akanji a.k.a. Iya Ewe, Ismail Olalekan, and Sanmi Obaleye.

PW4, who is the Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case, said the second defendant, Salaudeen, in his statement, confessed to reselling the two human legs he bought from the first defendant, Mohammed, to the fifth defendant, Obaleye, for N60,000.

At the continuation of the trial, the prosecution team, led by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oyo State, Abiodun Aikomo, continued the examination-in-chief:

You told the court on January 21 how each of the defendants was arrested. You can continue from that point.

PW4: The first defendant was transferred along with the exhibits — two knives, one white cloth containing charms, a plastic bottle containing a liquid substance suspected to be human blood, an android phone, an iron rod, and a horn containing charms. (The items were tendered before the court and labelled Exhibit P4.)

What did the first defendant tell you about those items?

The first defendant told me the items were recovered from his house at Oloosa Oko, Moniya.

Did he say anything else about the items?

The first defendant said they used the items whenever he and others had a victim to kill.

Tell the court about the involvement of the other defendants.

During interrogation, the first defendant said that each time he killed a victim in his house at Oloosa Oko, he would dismember the body and sell the human parts to the second, third, and fourth defendants, and others now at large. When the second defendant was arrested at BOVAS Filling Station, Ologuneru, he confessed and corroborated the first defendant’s statement. He also said that out of the human parts he bought, he sold two human legs to the fifth defendant for N60,000, and the fifth defendant, during interrogation, also corroborated that statement.

When the statement of the first defendant was recorded, he said that out of seven victims killed in his house, he participated in killing five. Out of the five, he was able to identify one as Adekola Sodiq and another as Malik Kareem. The 1st defendant said he and others at large lured Adekola Sodiq, 29, into his house at Oloosa Oko on May 22, 2024, where they killed and dismembered him. He stated that he sold Sodiq’s head and two hands to the 4th defendant (Ismail a.k.a. Silapa) for N120,000.

The first defendant further stated that on August 11, 2024, at about 11 p.m., he lured Malik Kareem, a 17-year-old male, into his house at Oloosa Oko, where he and others killed and dismembered him. He said he sold Kareem’s head and two legs to the second defendant. The first defendant added that he had been selling human parts to the second, third and fourth defendants, and others now at large, for over a year before their arrest.

You told us the corpses were recovered from a well in the first defendant’s house?

PW4: We recovered headless and decomposed human bodies from a well in the first defendant’s compound. During interrogation, the first defendant confessed that whenever he killed a victim, he removed the head, hands, legs, heart, and other useful human parts, while the remains were dumped in the well so members of the community would not discover his acts.

Do you have any proof of the decomposing bodies you found in the well?

We were able to identify the body of Malik Kareem because, while we were at the scene, one Alhaji Mojeed (PW1) identified the headless, decomposed body as that of Malik Kareem. He is a relative of the deceased and recognised him by the clothes he wore on the day he was declared missing. When we questioned the first defendant about the body, he confessed and identified it as Malik Kareem. We also took photographs of the headless body with the clothes still on it.

During interrogation, Alhaji Mojeed (PW1) also brought a photograph of Malik Kareem when he was alive. We showed it to the first defendant, and he confirmed that he was one of the victims killed.

If you see these pictures, will you be able to identify them? (Shown that of Malik Kareem).

Yes. (Looking at the one shown to him.) This is Malik Kareem.

You told this court that you recovered decomposing human bodies. What did you do afterward?

I took photographs of three decomposing human bodies.

PW4 was shown the photographs, which he identified. The state sought to tender the photographs along with the Certificate of Compliance. Defence counsel M.A. Akinwumi, appearing for the first defendant, objected to their admissibility, arguing that they did not comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act. He said the foundation for compliance was not properly laid and sought to defer his objection until the address stage.

Another defence counsel, S.O. Babarinde, objected to the photographs being admitted in evidence, arguing that no Certificate of Compliance was attached, and made reference to Section 380(1)(a)(v) of the ACJL.

Adebayo Idowu Adekoya, counsel to the third defendant, also objected to the tendering of the photographs and the Certificate of Compliance, aligning himself with the submissions of counsel to the first and second defendants.

Counsel to the fourth defendant, M.K. Raji, also objected to the admissibility of the photographs on the ground that they were not primary evidence, contrary to Section 83 of the Evidence Act. In addition, he objected to the purported Certificate of Compliance on the ground that it had not been established that the pictures were taken with any specific device by the witness. He submitted that the Certificate of Compliance was irrelevant.

However, counsel to the fifth defendant, Adebola Ogungbe, raised no objection.

The two photographs of Adekola Sodiq and Malik Kareem were admitted in evidence and marked Exhibit P6.

PW4: During the course of investigation, my team of detectives visited the crime scene with the parties in attendance — that is, the witnesses and the first defendant. At the scene, investigation revealed that the first defendant and others now at large used to bring victims to his house, where they were killed and dismembered.

As AG Aikomo asked another question about what happened at the police station during the course of the investigation, but PW4, who had earlier complained of ill health, could no longer continue. Justice Akintola subsequently adjourned the matter for continuation. (Saturday Tribune)