Court Frees Man From Robbery, After 4 Years In Jail A 25-year-old boat operator and fisherman, Emmanuel Egbayelo, has been discharged and acquitted by a Lagos State High Court from armed robbery. It would be recalled that Egbayelo was arraigned on a three-count charge, bordering on conspiracy and armed robbery. The presiding judge, Justice Lateefat Okunnu, while delivering judgement, held that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations of armed robbery preferred against the defendant. She said: “It is the view of the court that the allegations against the defendant are mere suspicions… and suspicion has no place in law. The prosecution has not done enough to prove the armed robbery incident and enough has not been done to prove the defendant’s guilt,” she said. It was gathered from the evidence-in-chief given by the three police officers who testified in court, that the suspect was arrested on March 22, 2010 around 4.00am while operating a boat on the Kikiriki waterside. Justice Okunnu said she observed that the evidence given by PW1 was in English language, and was not interpreted to the defendant, hence, she disregarded it. She also dismissed the testimonies of PW2 and PW3 as she held that they were not direct in respect of the crime. She ruled: “The evidence before the court does not prove the charge; there is no evidence of committing the act. Conspiracy cannot be proved by mere inference and as such the charge fails. It is hereby dismissed and the defendant is hereby acquitted and discharged.” The PW2, one Sergeant Festus Okoebor, from the Marine Police Command, had told the court that he was the one who arrested Egbayelo, while on patrol with two of his colleagues. The witness said the suspect was arrested in a boat around 3.30am with items such as a revolver, a locally made double barrel gun, four laptops, seven handsets, two hair clippers, one hack saw and one wrist watch. He added that though by the time the police team sighted the boat there were between 12 men aboard, only Egbayelo was caught while the others escaped. Okoebor said he took the defendant to the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja. NATIONAL MIRROR AUG. 11, 2014
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 04:32:34 +0000