An Ondo State High Court has sentenced the Founder of Sotitobire Praising Chapel, Prophet Samuel Babatunde, also known as Alfa Babatunde, to life imprisonment over the disappearance of a one-year-old boy, Gold Kolawole, in his church.
The prophet was jailed alongside six other defendants including Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola, Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo, Esther Kayode and Peter Anjorin.
Justice Olusegun Odusola in his judgement convicted the defendants having found them guilty of the two-count charge of kidnapping and aiding and abetting to kidnap based on the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution.
The judge condemned in strong terms the complicity, compromise and lackadaisical attitude of the Ondo State Police command after Kolawole went missing, an incident which led to the burning of the church.
It would be recalled that the boy went missing on November 10, 2019 during a Sunday service after his mother, Modupe Kolawole, dropped him off at the children’s unit of Sotitobire Praising Chapel, located at Oshinle Quarters in Akure.
Babatunde was arrested on December 10, 2019 alongside the other convicts and arraigned before a magistrate’s court on six counts.
The matter was later transferred to the state High Court.
