Fatal Accident: Court reschedules trial of Anthony Joshua’s driver

The driver who drove Anthony Joshua and his friends, who died in the 29 December 2025 accident, had appeared before the court for a scheduled commencement of his trial on Tuesday.

A magistrate’s court in Sagamu, Ogun State, on Tuesday rescheduled the trial of 45-year-old driver Adeniyi Kayode, who was involved in the fatal road crash that claimed the lives of two friends and team members of former world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.

The magistrate, Olajumoke Somefu, adjourned the matter until 25 February.

Mr Kayode, who appeared before the court for a scheduled commencement of his trial on four drcharges, was earlier granted bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.

He was driving the Lexus 570 SUV when the accident occurred in front of Sinamo Company along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on 29 December 2025. The vehicle with registration number KRD 850 HM ran into a parked truck on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, instantly killing Anthony Joshua’s friends and team members – Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele and Sina Ghami. Mr Joshua and the driver suffered only minor injuries.

The driver now faces four counts of dangerous driving causing death, reckless and negligent driving, and driving without due care and attention which allegedly resulted in bodily harm and damage to property and driving without a valid national driver’s licence.

The prosecution lawyer, Richard Nijiwe, said the alleged offences contravened sections 5(1), 6(1), 7(1) and 10(1) of the Federal Highway Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Kayode was arraigned before the court on 2 January over the 29 December 2025 accident.

But on Tuesday, the prosecution lawyer, Mr Richard, applied for an adjournment of the case to enable the transmission of the case file to the Ogun State Attorney-General’s Office through the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.

However, the defence counsel, Abiodun Olalekan, opposed the application, arguing that the defence was ready to proceed with the trial.

In her ruling, the magistrate granted the prosecution’s application and adjourned the matter until 25 February for further hearing.

The legal advice from the attorney-general office will determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecution.

The case may eventually end up before a High Court due to jurisdictional consideration, if the legal advice okays prosecution.

(NAN)