LAGOS - An Ikeja High Court in Lagos was recently into shock when two
alleged robbery suspects narrated how they were framed up by the police
for refusing to offer bribe after their arrest since December 2008.
The whole court was shunned when two men, Kingsley Ogwunze
and Benjamin Nwafor dropped the bombshed while testifying before Justice
Lateefat Okunnu on Monday.
Led in evidence by their counsel, Mrs. Tate Akingbote, the
defendants told the court that they were arrested separately at Charity
Bus Stop on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway on 7 December, 2008 and had never
meet until the arrest.
According to them, “We have never meet before, not until 4th
February, 2009 when we were ‘paired up’ by the police for arraignment
first at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos and charged for robbery”,
adding that they were remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, Lagos, after
their arraignment on a four-count charge of conspiracy and robbery.
Ogwunze, the first defender who claimed to be an undertaker,
said he was arrested by plain-clothes policemen while he was going to
collect money from a customer, saying “Despite that I showed the
policemen my identity card and driver’s licence, they still bundled me
at gun point into a commercial bus they used in the raiding along with
some other persons”.
The first defendant said, “When we were inside the bus, they
told me to cooperate and that I should give them money. But I refused
because I had done nothing wrong. As we were going, the bus stopped and
some persons came and gave the policemen money to release their
relatives and friends, who were also in the bus”.
According to him, they were later taken to Makinde Police
Station, Mafoloku, where they were detained for several weeks.
Ogwunze said the police seized his wallet and mobile phone
which prevented him from reaching his family members in Abia State.
“From there, I was taken to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, where I
was tortured physically for several weeks to make a confessional
statement. Later, one Inspector Cyprian came to meet me that if I could
raise money that they will let me go, but I told him I had no money”.
Ogwunze said he was eventually charged to court for
allegedly conspiring with the second defendant and others at large to
rob people of their mobile phones.
Under cross-examination by the prosecution counsel, Mr. Femi
Adamson, the first defendant insisted on his innocence, saying “I have
never met the second defendant and I do not know him.
My Lord, the job I do is far better than snatching of
mobile phones and I want the court to strike out this case because I do
not know anything about it and my future is at stake”.
Also testifying, Nwafor, who claimed to be a trader,
corroborated the first defendant’s claim, declaring that he had never
met Ogwunze and was surprised when they were charged to court together.
The case has been adjourned to March 3rd 2014 for adoption of final addresses.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment