BREAKING: BRT Driver To Die By Hanging For Killing Passenger Ms. Bamise Ayanwola
The Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has handed the death sentence to Andrew Ominikoron, a driver with the state-run Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), for the rape and murder of a 22-year-old fashion designer, Bamise Ayanwola.
Ominikoron’s sentencing brings to a dramatic end a case that sparked national outrage.
Bamise was declared missing in February 2022 after boarding a BRT bus driven by Ominikoron.
She had made phone calls to acquaintances upon realizing she was the only passenger in the bus that dark night.
Days later, her corpse was found dumped by the road, with evidence she had been raped prior to being murdered.
In the judgment delivered today Friday May 2, Justice Justice Serifat Sonaike ruled that the prosecution, the Lagos State Government, successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offence.
Ruling on the three-year case, the judge told Ominikoron “that for the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you.”
The Accused was arraigned on a four-count charge of rape, conspiracy with others at large and the murder of the 22-year-old fashion designer, his lone passenger that fateful February 26, 2022 on the Lekki-Ajah Conservation Expressway.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution presented compelling evidence linking the driver to the heinous crime, while the court affirmed that the act was premeditated and deserving of the maximum penalty.
The offences contravened Sections 411, 223, 260, and 165 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Bamise was last seen on February 26, 2022, after she boarded a BRT bus driven by Ominikoron in the Ajah area of Lagos.
Her body was discovered nine days later on Carter Bridge, Lagos Island.
During the trial, the State called 11 witnesses who testified against the convict.
The convict maintained his innocence.
His story, when led in court by defence counsel Abayomi Omotubora, was that he picked Ms. Bamishe at Chevron.
According to him, one of three male passengers he picked further down at Agungi came forward.
The convict said he thought the man came to pay him, only for the passenger to throw something at his head and showed him a gun, warning him to cooperate.
