and Femi Israel (41), who were guarding
Igando New Town, Lagos State, have been
accused of killing one of the landlords who
employed them.
The police said the men had caught a
suspected robber around midnight and were
dragging him along the street when some of
the landlords came out to intervene.
The deceased, 37-year-old Jelili Olawoyin, was
said to have appealed to Adeniran and Israel
to release the suspect while the duo was
hitting him with a cutlass.
In the heat of the moment, Adeniran was said
to have mistakenly pulled the trigger of his
locally-made pistol, which hit Olawoyin.
He died on the spot.
The police arraigned the two men on
Wednesday before an Ebute Meta Magistrate's
court on two counts of murder.
The police prosecutor, Inspector George
Nwosu said the offence was punishable under
sections 231 and 221 of the Criminal Law of
Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
Nwosu applied for the remand of the
defendants in prison custody pending legal
advice from the Directorate of Public
Prosecution.
However, the defence counsel, Spurgeon
Ataene, in his application against the remand,
argued that the court had the power to
conduct a preliminary enquiry into the
incident.
"The court is empowered under Section 264(9)
of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law
of Lagos State, 2011, to find out if the
grounds of remand brought by the police are
genuine and if there is a prima facie link
connecting the death with the defendants," he
said.
The magistrate, Tunbosun Abolarinwa, called
the Investigating Police Officer, Sergeant
Moses Godgift, to give the facts of the case to
enable the court decide whether or not to
remand the accused.
Godgift, who is attached to the State Criminal
Investigation Department, Yaba, said, "This
case was initially reported at the Igando
Police station, before it was transferred to the
Homicide Department of the SCID.
"Investigations revealed that the two
defendants are security men within the
Igando New Town area. On March 3, 2014, at
about 4.30am, they arrested a suspect called
Baba Akodo. They accosted him and in the
process of interrogating him, the first
defendant (Adeniran), who was holding a
locally-made gun with his left hand, used his
right hand to drag him.
"While the said Baba refused to follow them,
the second defendant used a cutlass to beat
him up. This created a noise and neighbours
and landlords came out.
"The landlords who employed them said they
should stop beating the man, but they
refused. The first defendant's locally-made
gun exploded and the bullet hit the deceased."
However, a police prosecutor, DSP Etim
Nkankuk, said the security men wanted to gun
down the suspected robber, but mistakenly
shot the late Olawoyin, who was holding him.
The magistrate, however, faulted Nkankuk's
submission since he was not the one that
investigated the case.
Abolarinwa said the case did not qualify for
murder, but manslaughter, as the men
couldn't have wanted to kill one of their
employers.
In his ruling, he said, "Having heard from the
IPO, it is difficult for this honourable court to
believe that this case qualifies for murder. It
is well put by the IPO that the gun exploded,
meaning it was not their intention to kill
anybody. It will therefore be wrong and not
according to the law to charge them for
murder. The facts that the court extracted
from the statements of the police are not
enough to sustain a murder charge. Rather, it
can be seen as one of those incidents of
accidental discharges which fall under Section
264(4) of the ACJL, 2011."
The magistrate admitted the defendants to bail
in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in
like sum.
The matter was adjourned till April 29, 2014
for the DPP's advice.
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