NAN-H-74
Discharge
By Sylvester Thompson
Abuja, Jan.25, 2017(NAN)A Gudu Upper Area Court, Abuja, on Wednesday discharged three men- Chidiebere Osita, Jeff Enyobi and Emmanuel Iyanda for lack of diligent prosecution.
The judge, Mr Umar Kagarko, said he discharged the defendants based on the submissions of their counsel.
The defendants were arraigned on March 17, 2016 on charges bordering on criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass, theft, mischief and theft, offences they denied committing.
Their counsel, Ogechukwu Ibenaegbu and I.I. Uwa, both from the Legal Aid Council, had prayed the court to discharge the defendants for lack of diligent prosecution.
“This case has suffered six adjournments at the instance of the prosecution and the defendants had spent nine months without hearing their case ,’’ Ibenaegbu said.
Uwa also said that the “court is not a store whereby cases are dumped,’’ and urged the judge to discharge the defendants.
The defendants were arraigned on March 17, 2016 and charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass, theft, mischief and theft.
When the defendant were arraigned on March 17, the prosecutor, Mr Augustine Urom, had told the court that one Okonye Paul of Wumba village, Apo , reported the matter at Apo Police Station on March 17, 2016.
He said that defendants and others still at large criminally conspired and trespassed into the complainant’s compound.
He alleged that they went with “digger, shovel, hammer and other destructive implements.’’
Urom said that the complainant alleged that the defendants used these “implements to break the wall of their bathroom and suck away estimated at about N40, 000.’’
He said that the wife of the complainant, Mrs Maureen Paul, was in the bathroom taking her bath and Osita, one of the defendants, had “rushed her down and raped her.’’
He also stated that the other defendants, thereafter, “rushed into their room and stole N1.2million, before neighbours came to render assistance.
“In the process, some of them were arrested, while others escaped,’’ Urom said.
The prosecutor said the offences contravened the provisions of Sections 97, 348, 2876, 327 and 202 of the Penal Code. (NAN)
SET/OU/OU
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Edited by Obike Ukoh
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