Hilton Hotel: OAU student died from severe bleeding due to traumatic injuries – Autopsy
IN November, a student of Obafemi Awolowo University Timothy Adegoke died under mysterious circumstances at Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Coroner’s inquest has linked his death to intense haemorrhage (bleeding) due to ‘severe traumatic injuries.’
The ICIR exclusively obtained the autopsy report from an impeccable source who did not want to be named.
The report says there was no natural disease in the deceased’s body to cause or accelerate death or to cause him to collapse (and die).
The autopsy, however, shows that pathologists could not pin down the actual cause of his death because of his body’s ‘advanced decomposition’ before the inquest was done.
Adegoke was found in a supine position with two different types of ropes around his ankles and neck, the report says.
But it does not explain if his killers used the ropes to kill him or package his corpse.
Another striking feature in the report is a ’round seemingly clean-cut skin wound’ on the outer aspect of the left side of his chest wall close to the left armpit.
There was a marked tissue reaction (bruising) of the skin covering the chest wall compared with the right chest wall, which the report says indicates an ‘antemortem traumatic injury’- an injury sustained before he died.
There have been insinuations that the deceased was killed for ritual purposes, but the autopsy report shows that his internal and sensitive exterior organs are intact.
The report was supervised by W.A. Oluogun (Consultant Pathologist) and P.O. Towoju (Senior Resident Doctor).
In addition to the two pathologists, six consultant pathologists from different medical facilities were on the ground during the examination.
The deceased younger brother Adegoke Olugbade also witnessed the exercise.
Failure of the inquest to pinpoint the cause of Adegoke’s death might have contributed to reports that the Police had rejected the autopsy.
The Osun State Police Command, through its spokesperson Opalola Yemisi, said it was unaware of the rejection.
Yemisi said the case had been transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The Force Public Relations Officer Frank Mba did not respond to The ICIR’s request on the allegation.
He did not pick the calls put across to his phone. He did not also respond to Whatsapp and text messages sent to him by our reporter on the matter.
The beginning of the tragedy
Adegoke was a master’s degree student at the OAU.
He left Abuja on November 5 for Ile-Ife to sit for his last examination in the university.
He lodged at the Hilton Hotel, where he allegedly died.
Curiously, rather than pay into the hotel’s account as a client, investigations revealed he made a cash transfer into the bank account of one of the employees – an act considered irregular.
The hotel had repeatedly denied the deceased lodged at the facility before facts on the transaction emerged.
The Police consequently arrested some of the hotel’s staff, including the hotel’s owner, Ramon Adedoyin.
Efforts by the Adedoyin’s family to save their patriarch have failed, but they are hopeful he will be vindicated.
Adedoyin is a prominent chief in Ile-Ife. He owns Oduduwa University Ipetumodu and The Polytechnic Ile-Ife.
His son, who manages the hotel, Raheem Adedoyin, has since been at large.
He allegedly ordered the hotel’s staff to evacuate his body and dump it at a distant location from the hotel.
Our reporter gathered from an impeccable source that he ordered the evacuation of the client’s body from the hotel to save his family’s name from crises likely to accompany the death.
“He has since been on the run. The family cannot reach him. He has switched off all communication channels with the family, though the family has now realised he is the chief suspect in the incident and the family wants him to come and pay for his sin.”
The source said the father, held by the Police, could be innocent.
Body dumped far from the hotel, left to decompose
Some of the hotel’s workers allegedly dumped Adegoke’s body around one of the OAU gates, far from the hotel, on the order of Adedoyin’s son.
Before officials exhumed Adegoke’s body after the staff of Ife Central Local Government Area reportedly buried him, he was already decomposing.
The autopsy report says animals could have eaten parts of the body where the hotel’s staff dumped him.
The report confirms that the body was partially decomposing on November 15 when officials brought it to the mortuary.
The body “was exhumed from a grave, approximately 0.5m deep, along Ile-Ife- Ede Road about 1.4 km to Obafemi Awolowo University’s main gate on November 15 2021.”
He was said to have probably died on November 6, 2021.
On examination, the body was said to have been wrapped in a duvet, stained in blotches of offensive body fluid.
His clothes – an undergarment, a T-shirt and boxer’s shorts – were similarly stained.
“Blood was not clearly identifiable on a naked-eye inspection,” part of the result says.
It took a week before the experts carried out the inquest.
Suspicious transaction at the hotel
Given that Adegoke did not pay into the hotel’s account as is the custom in most business outfits, many are raising eyebrows.
Adegoke’s wife averred that her husband had been a regular guest at the hotel.
It is not clear if the deceased had made similar payments into the staff’s account during his previous visits to the hotel.
But for Police investigation, the hotel could have succeeded in denying the deceased was at the facility.
The coroners’ report
Adegoke was found with two different ropes around the ankles and the neck.
At the exhumation site, there were maggots around the left side of the body extending from the left side of the skull to the entire left upper limb.
The degree of decomposition was intense around the head and the left upper limb with disarticulation of both the left elbow and wrist joints.
There was also complete skeletonisation of the left upper limb.
According to the report, much of the body’s disfigurement was because he was already decomposing before officials brought him to the mortuary.
All his internal organs are intact, but they have shrunk.
Further internal examination revealed extensive autolysis of all organs and striking generalised organ pallor.
Besides, there was a hematoma (blood clot) within the chest (right thoracic cavity) estimated to be 100mls, according to the report.
The corresponding inner wall of the left thoracic cage also shows areas of reddening alternating with blackening of the soft tissues around the left lateral chest wall.
However, there is no fracture in any of the ribs. There was a fracture of the left side of the hyoid bone (without any tissue reaction) and the right cricoid cartilage of the neck (with mild tissue reaction).
There were no recognisable superficial neck markings, no soft tissue reaction, nor haemorrhage seen around the neck.
But there was a fracture of the anatomic neck of the right femur as earlier observed on X-ray.
The heart, lungs, brain and other internal organs, including the external genitalia, were present in their normal anatomical positions with varying degrees of decomposition [i.e. none of the outer (genitalia) or internal organs is missing].
Until his death, Adegoke was the director of finance at Xiamien Stone Limited, Abuja.
- International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR
