Suspect Beats Up Police Officer, Escapes From Court

A 22-year-old man who was ordered to be
remanded in Olokuta Prison custody has
escaped from court while being led to the
prison van .
Adegboyega Dauda, alongside
11 others, was arraigned on
Tuesday before an Akure
Chief Magistrate's Court for
allegedly beating up a Police
Constable, Sunday Oluwole, and stabbing him
with broken bottles.
Mr. Dauda was also accused of obstructing the
police constable from carrying out his duty. The
other accused persons were Pius Daniel, 25;
Igbekele Samuel, 28; Godday Odoh, 41; Tunde
During, 40; Okechukwu Clement, 32; Sunday
Obezie, 30; John Aaron, 21; Ifedayo Ogunleye,
21; Kolade Ibiloye, 37; Eze James, 32 and Christ
Adeko, 32.
The accused were also alleged to have collected
the sum of N40,000 and a Nokia handset valued
at N16,000 from one John Ihejirika under false
pretense and thereafter stabbed him with knife
and broken bottles all over his body. The
incident took place on May 18 at about 11:30
a.m. at Ojumu Street, Akure. They all pleaded
'not guilty' to the five-count charge.
Although Chief Magistrate, Akin Akintoye had
ordered that they be remanded in prison and
adjourned the case till Thursday for bail
consideration, it was, however, reassigned to
Magistrate's Court 5. However, when the case
came up on Thursday at Court 5, Police
Prosecutor, Ayodele Atandeyi, told the court that
the fifth accused, Mr. Dauda, had escaped from
the court premises on their way to the police
van.
The case, however, assumed a new dimension
when Mr. Ihejirika did a u-turn by telling the
court that those arraigned were businessmen
randomly arrested by the police, adding that the
police failed to arrest the real culprits.
"They [the accused] are not the people that took
money from me and injured me. In the presence
of the police, I was beaten up. It wasn't these
people that injured the police officer. It was the
'419′ that injured him when they were throwing
bottles.
When the DPO, 'B' Division arrived the scene, he
ordered that people should be arrested house-to-
house when the '419′ had already escaped," he
said. Counsel to the one of the accused, Olu
Alade, prayed the court to dismiss all the
charges, pointing out that the remaining three
charges cannot stand on their own.
In her ruling, the Presiding Magistrate, Charity
Adeyanju granted the accused bail with
N150,000 each and one surety each in like sum
and adjourned the case till July 2 for hearing.