Two men, Wasiu Raji, 34, and 24-year-old Akeem Adebari, have been arraigned before an Ebute Meta Magistrate’s court for allegedly killing one Adio Saheed over money.
The police said Raji and Adebari, beat up the deceased with fist blows while wrestling a bunch of money given to Saheed by the Chairman of the Ifelodun Local Council Development Area, Lagos State to share among the touts in the area.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Friday how the council boss had given the money out while attending a function at Ajegunle area of the state.
Our correspondent reported that the chairman gave out N20,000 to Saheed, who was then mobbed to death by the crowd.
He was reportedly rushed to a general hospital in the state where he was declared dead.
The police however said that before he died, he identified Raji and Adebari in the crowd that mobbed him to death.
The two men were subsequently arrested and arraigned on Tuesday before the court on two counts of murder.
The offence was said to be punishable under sections 231 and 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
The police prosecutor, Inspector George Nwosu, applied for their remand in prison pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.
However, the defence counsel- Akinyemi Idris and Spurgeon Ataene- objected the application urging the court to conduct a preliminary investigation.
Ataene said, “We oppose the remand application based on sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2011. By these provisions, the court is empowered to examine the reasons brought by the police for remand. And if not satisfied, the court could grant bail. The Investigating Police Officer is in court, who can shed more light on what happened.”
The Magistrate, Tunbosun Abolarinwa, invited the IPO to give the facts of the matter.
The IPO said, “The names of the two men were mentioned to one Ademola Adeyemi by the deceased before he died at the general hospital. He said the two suspects were among the people dragging the money with him.
“On the 22 March, 2014, the Ifelodun chairman had given the boys money to share after attending a party held at Seven-Up Bus Stop, Ajegunle.”
Abolarinwa while condemning the act of the council boss which he said was contributing to “societal menace,” wondered why the police arraigned the suspects for murder when it was obvious they did not have the intention to kill him.
He said, “Having heard from the IPO on what led to the death of the deceased, this honourable court believes that the defendants and others at large, did not kill him on purpose; he met his death while they were dragging the money given to them by the council boss. Their names were mentioned as people in the crowd who dragged the money with him.
“Going by this preliminary enquiry, this court believes his death was accidental, which does not qualify for murder. Rather, it falls under the purview of Section 264(4) of the Law.”
The magistrate thereafter granted the defendants bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The matter was adjourned till May 15, 2014 for DPP’s advice.
Punch
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