Adedeji Adesola, a receptionist at the Hilton Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where OAU postgraduate student Timothy Adegoke was reportedly murdered, revealed that Roheem Adedoyin, the hotel’s managing director, gave her a new receipt to sign in place of the one that had been given to the deceased.
Adegoke, who was allegedly murdered in the hotel on November 5, 2021, before his body was thrown on the side of the road, is also a defendant in the case, along with Dr. Rahman Adedoyin and five other hotel employees.
Under cross-examination from prosecution counsel, Femi Falana, SAN, the seventh defendant said that she snapped the original receipt she issued to the deceased with her phone to ensure that her account was intact before handing it over to the receptionist on the night shift.
“My lord, I didn’t plan to fabricate any evidence. On the 11th of November, 2021, I was at Ilesha when I receive a message from one of the receptionists ( Esther) that we have a meeting at the Chairman’s (Dr Adedoyin) house. I told her I can’t make it.
“Another receptionist, Moshood called me and said I must come because a receipt was missing in my account. I told him that it is not possible because I already gave my account to the auditor.
“I later went to Dr Rahmon’s house. When I got there, I met another receptionist and during our discussion, The MD Prince Raheem Adedoyin came to me and said I should follow him. He took me to a house inside the building, he also said a receipt is missing from my account but I told him it’s not possible.
“He said he is my boss and can’t lie. He said he will give me another receipt and ask me to sign it and that he was protecting me.I thought since he is my boss and the person giving me the receipt was the son to the owner of the hotel, I obliged. He gave me the receipt and a name to write on it”, she said.
She said that when the other suspects were apprehended on November 12, 2021, they told her of Adegoke’s passing.
The police officer who was supposed to testify on behalf of Adedoyin was absent from court on Friday as well.
Adedoyin’s lawyer, Mr. Kehinde Eleja, was advised by Chief Justice Adepeke Ojo to make sure the witness appears before the court on the next rescheduled date, February 2, 2023.