Police arraign tortured couple for receivingnstolen goods

Police arraign tortured couple for receivingnstolen goods

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The
police on Thursday arraigned Ejeh Smith, one of the tortured couple,
before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court for allegedly receiving stolen
goods.

He was arraigned along with two others, Mattias Manda and Adamu
Iliasu, on three counts of conspiracy, stealing and receiving stolen
goods.

The magistrate, A.T. Omoleye, granted them bail in the sum of
N50,000 each with two sureties in like sum.
PUNCH Metro had reported that Ejeh and his wife, Grace, were tortured
by a policeman, Dada Ogunsanya, while they were going home.
After the report, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, had
filed a N100m case against the police on behalf of the couple for the
injustice suffered in the hand of the police corporal and the then Ikoyi
Divisional Police Officer, Aisha Haruna.
Our correspondent reported on Thursday that the police at the end of
investigation, released the cop after demoting him from a corporal to a
constable, and arrested Ejeh for allegedly receiving stolen diesel.
The diesel was said to have been given to him by a security man, who
stole it from his boss.
It was reported that Ejeh was arrested by policemen from the Lion
Building Division and was granted bail before policemen from the Ikoyi
Police Division took over the case.
The matter was subsequently taken to court on Thursday.
The charges read in part, “That you, Mattias Manda, Adamu Iliasu and
Ejeh Smith, on February 8, 2015, at about 9am, at Ajayi Benbe Street,
Parkview Estate Ikoyi, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire
among yourselves to commit felony to wit; stealing, and thereby
committed an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Criminal
Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Their defence counsel, Ben Ogbu, applied for their bail in liberal terms.
The magistrate, Omoleye, then admitted them to bail in the sum of
N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.
However, a lawyer from the Femi Falana Chamber, who was
representing the couple in the torture case, Mr. Austin Audu, told
PUNCH Metro that the N100m suit against the police would still go on.
He said, “Despite the new development, we are still going ahead with
the torture case which is already before the court and has been
assigned a case number.
“We are only waiting for a date to be assigned for the hearing.
“However, I must say that something is really fishy here. Why is it now
that the police are bringing up this case against him? I think something
is wrong somewhere.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, told our
correspondent the police did not frame Ejeh, adding that they were
doing their job.
He said, “There were three of them involved in the case; do we say
because he has a matter with us, he should not be arrested if he
commits an offence?”