Man bags life jail for setting ex-boss ablaze in Ekiti

An illustration of someone set ablaze (Web image)

An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, on Wednesday, sentenced a 41-year-old man, Olasunkanmi Kareem, to life imprisonment for attempting to murder his former boss by setting him ablaze.

Kareem was arraigned on November 18, 2024 on a count charge bordering on attempt to murder contrary to Section 241 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021.

The charge reads, “The defendant on 11th of August, 2024 at Ifaki Ekiti did attempt to murder one Omoboriwo Bashiru by setting him ablaze.”

The victim, in his evidence before the court, stated, “The defendant is a former apprentice at my mechanic workshop. I always assisted him whenever he had issues with his customers while repairing their cars even after graduation.

“On the fateful day, he called around 8pm and asked me about a carburator I helped him repair. I told him I didn’t see it. He abused and threatened me that he would set me ablaze wherever he saw me. I thought he was joking, I called him and he described where he was for me. We met at a vulcanizer’s workshop where an argument ensued between us.

“I did not know he held a gallon of petrol in his hand, because it was dark, he poured the content on my body. When I discovered it was petrol, I tried to run, but there was fire all over my body. I fell into a drainage where some passersby put out the fire. I had burnt wounds all over my body and I was later taken to hospital,” he said.

The prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, called four other witnesses and tendered defendant’s statements, pictures of the victim, medical report among others as exhibits.

The defendant spoke in his own defence through his lawyer and called no witness.

In the judgment, Justice Jibril Aladejana said, “The fact before the court is that the defendant lured the victim to his shop, stood in ambush behind an electric pole and armed with petrol which he poured on him and ignited it, but for the intervention of the passersby, the victim would have been killed.

“This intentional act of causing grievous bodily harm is an attempt to murder. In my view, the defendant does not deserve leniency, rather, the defendant should face the full wrath of the law.

“In the circumstance, the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge pronounced.