After a lengthy period of trial, Akolade Arowolo, the suspect who allegedly stabbed his wife, Titilayo, a banker to death, would get judgement on Friday, 21st February 2014, according to a High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State.
Akolade allegedly stabbed his wife 76 times in a rage that overtook him while the duo had a disagreement. He however pleaded not guilty, saying that Titilayo stabbed herself to death after stabbing him.
The date for the judgement was contained in a Hearing Notice issued to the Prosecution and Defence counsel and has been communicated to the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Arowolo’s counsel, Barrister Olarenwaju Ajanaku.
Arowolo was arraigned on 21st December 2011 before Justice Lateef Okunnu on a one-count charge of murder. Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Barrister Olabisi Ogungbesan had claimed that the accused murdered Titilayo on 24th June 2011 at his residence, No. 8, Akindeinde Street, Isolo, Lagos.
In the course of the trial, relatives of the deceased, including her father, George Oyakhire and her step-mother, Adetoun, testified that Arowolo’s marriage was characterised by domestic violence while a witness, Prof. John Obafunwa, a consultant pathologist and chief medical examiner of Lagos State also testified that Titilayo was stabbed 76 times.
But while testifying on 22nd May 2013, Arowolo denied the allegation, blaming his in-laws for the trouble in his marriage and insisting that his wife died after she accidentally fell on a knife during a quarrel on his birthday.
