Family demands corpse of slain Kwara College’s student for burial

…as court adjourns hearing to May 21

The Family of late Hafsoh Lawal, a female final year student of the Kwara State College of Education, who was murdered recently, on Monday, requested the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin to order the release of the dismembered body of the deceased for proper burial.

Ibrahim Sulyman, the Kwara State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, who is the prosecution team lead in the murder case of Hafsoh Lawal against five suspected persons, made the request during the continuation of the hearing on the matter.

Chukwudi Maduka, the defence counsel, who represents the first defendant, Abdulrahman Bello, raised no objections to the request, saying that he sympathised with the family despite the ongoing prosecution.

However, Abdulrahman Bello and four others are standing trial on the charges of conspiracy and murder of Hafsoh Lawal.

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At the resumed hearing, three more witnesses, including two Police officers and Olaleke Folaranmi, an anatomic pathologist from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, testified before the Court.

Key Police witnesses, including officers from the Police ‘C’ Division, Oja Oba, Ilorin and the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), testified that the prime suspect had orally confessed to the crime.

The officers said that the suspect led investigators to his apartment and later to a dumpsite at Olunlade area of the State capital to recover parts of the dismembered body of the deceased.

The Police men also said that the investigation led to the maim dumpsite located near the Okolowo-Eyenkorin expressway, where parts of the body were allegedly recovered.

“Police men were led to the dump site by Abdulrahman Bello to recover the human parts, but were already evacuated by the refuse disposal people to Okolowo-Eyenkorin expressway.

“The next day, we met with a scavenger who helped the police team recover the parts. Abdulrahman later identified the human parts as those of the deceased”, ASP of the state CID testified.

The prosecution team also played a video in Court showing the discovery of Hafsoh’s dismembered body parts inside the apartment of the prime suspect, Abdulrahman Bello.

The video, along with a certificate of compliance, was later admitted as evidence, despite objections from defence counsel, who argued that it did not comply with the state’s criminal justice law.

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Another officer, Sergeant Moses, told the court that the victim’s father had reported her missing on February 11, adding that Abdulrahman Bello was arrested after phone records showed that he was the last person to contact her.

He said that he allegedly confessed and attempted to bribe the Police officer to keep quiet while on the way to the Police station.

A search of his residence reportedly uncovered Hafsoh’s belongings, blood-stained weapons, charms, and buckets containing human body parts soaked in gin.

Meanwhile, Olaleke Folaranmi, a medical Doctor and pathologist from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, confirmed through a postmortem that the remains were human parts. His report was admitted as Exhibit P17.

Hannah Ajayi, the presiding judge, who described the bail application for the suspects as a distraction, promised to give an accelerated hearing to the case and adjourned proceedings until May 21, 2025, for further hearing.