A Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square has sentenced Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Ominikoron, to death by hanging for the murder of 22-year-old fashion designer, Bamise Ayanwola.

Delivering judgment in a session lasting over two and a half hours, Justice Serifat Sonaike ruled that the Lagos State Government had proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime.

“For the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul,” the judge declared.

Although there was no eyewitness to the murder, the court relied on circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of a pathologist and a voice note recorded by the victim shortly before her death on 26 February 2022. These pointed to Ominikoron as the last person seen with Bamise.

Ominikoron was also convicted of raping a 29-year-old woman, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, on 25 November 2021. The court cited the testimonies of two other women who had reported similar assaults, and the voice note Bamise sent before her death, as establishing a pattern of predatory behaviour.

While the court acquitted the defendant of rape in Bamise’s case—citing the absence of medical evidence of penetration or semen—it found him guilty of attempted rape, which was successfully proven by the prosecution.

Ominikoron was also discharged on the charge of conspiracy, which the court ruled was not substantiated by the prosecution.

The prosecution, led by Lagos Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Babajide Martins, had urged the court to impose the maximum penalty. Defence counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, in his allocutus, pleaded for leniency.