A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo state capital, on Friday sentenced a self-acclaimed pastor, identified as Solomon Bello, for possession of human parts.
iBrandtv learned that the 35-year-old was earlier charged with two counts of conspiracy and unlawful possession.
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Items reportedly found in Bello’s possession include a transparent plastic container containing clean sliced pieces of human heart tissue from two human adult hearts, two bone structures of the human neck,and the vertebrae colon.
A wooden casket containing different criminal charms and pieces of kola nuts were also found in the convict’s possession, said Police prosecutor Inspector Abayomi Jejeniwa.
It was reported that Bello conspired with some people now at large to commit the heinous act on January 14, 2022, at about 7 AM in Morayo Street Ayeyemi area of Ondo.
According to the prosecutor, “The convict, when arrested, could not give a satisfactory account of how he came about it to the police”.
Jejeniwa said the offense contravenes sections 213(b) and 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 370, Vol. I, Laws of Ondo State, 2006
He called three witnesses and tendered the found items as exhibits to prove his case. The prosecutor prayed the court punish the suspect accordingly to deter others who might want to engage in a similar business.
The convict, in his defense through his counsel, S. Aliu, denied the allegations leveled against him. He told the court that the two hearts found in his possession were pigs’ hearts and bones he had bought.
According to him, “they swelled like a human heart when I soaked them in the water”.
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After reading the facts of the matter, the Chief Magistrate, F.J Ajiboye, in his verdict, found him guilty of the charges against him.
Ajiboye then sentenced the convict to one calendar year in imprisonment in the Olokuta correctional facility, for the first count and two calendar years for the second charge, without an option of a fine.
The Magistrate said, “He is to serve the term as a deterrent to others of his kind that humiliate the dead.”
