Segun Olowookere, a young man who was sentenced to death in Osun State for allegedly stealing a fowl, has shared his harrowing experience of arrest, detention, and conviction.
Olowookere, arrested in 2010 at the age of 17 that the complainant in his case was a family member.
The incident that altered his life occurred in November 2010 when he was detained alongside another suspect, Sunday Morakinyo, in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government Area of Osun State.
The pair were accused of robbing a policeman attached to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Okuku, Tope Balogun, of two fowls and eggs.
Additional allegations stated that they conspired to rob Oguntade Faramade of fowls and eggs worth N20,000, stole two mobile phones from Balogun Taye, and attempted to rob Alhaja Umani Oyewo.
The charge sheet also detailed an alleged robbery involving Elizabeth Dare, who was reportedly robbed of a gallon of vegetable oil by individuals armed with cutlasses and a Dane gun.
Both Olowookere and Morakinyo pleaded not guilty to the charges when arraigned on January 30, 2013, before Justice Jide Falola at the Osun State High Court in Ikirun.
However, Olowookere was said to have made a confessional statement to the police, admitting to the crime.
Recounting his journey to death row, Olowookere explained how the police arrested him after they came looking for him at his father’s shop.
“I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others,” Olowookere said in an interview with PUNCH.
He continued, “My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was, and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.
“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”
At the station, Olowookere said he was accused of being the gang leader of a group of children, aged 12 and 13, who allegedly stole the fowls and eggs.
Despite his denial, he claimed he was tortured to force a confession.
“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station, and he told the police that he didn’t know me nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not,” he said.
“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.”
Olowookere revealed that the police had initially agreed to release him on bail if his father paid N30,000, but his father could only raise N20,000, which the police rejected.
“My dad left the station to look for the money. But before he returned the following day, we had been moved to the SARS office in Osogbo. The cutlasses that were given to me and Morakinyo to cut the grass were presented to SARS as exhibits and they were told we were armed robbers,” he explained.
After 17 days in SARS custody, Olowookere and Morakinyo were arraigned before a magistrate’s court on robbery charges and later transferred to the High Court, where they were sentenced to death.
Reflecting on his ordeal, Olowookere maintained his innocence and decried the injustices that led to his conviction.
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