POLICE CHIEF

Court sentences man to 3 months community service.

An Apapa Chief Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old man, Lanre Daramola, to three months community service for house breaking and stealing.
The convict is to be kept in Kirikiri Prisons from where he is expected to be brought to court to clean the premises and also cut the grass for the next three months.
Daramola was, however, not given an option of fine.
Chief Magistrate Oluyemisi Adelaja, who handed down the sentence, said Daramola was guilty of stealing a gold necklace and N11,000 cash, property of Tina Akpan.
The accused is guilty of the offence of house-breaking and stealing and is sentenced to three months imprisonment without an option of fine.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Benedict Unawunwa, had told the court that the accused committed the offence on June 13 at 1:10 a.m. at 65, Railway Line, Ijora-Badia in the Apapa Council Area.
He said Daramola, with another still at large, forcefully entered Akpan’s room and stole the items, an offence which, he noted, contravened Sections 390 (9), 412 and 516 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State.
The accused pleaded guilty to the three-count charge of felony, stealing and house-breaking, but urged leniency.
Counsel to the accused, K.C.J. Eboh, pleaded with the court to be lenient with the accused as a ``first offender’’.
But the prosecutor urged the court to jail Daramola to serve as a deterrent to others.
Alleged reckless driving: Court discharges septuagenarian for lack of diligent prosecution An Apapa Chief Magistrates’ Court has discharged a septuagenarian who had been standing trial since Feb. 28 over alleged reckless driving.
Damian Ekwonu, 71, was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Oluyemisi Adelaja, charge with dangerous driving and endangering other road users.
The prosecutor, Insp. Benedict Unawunwa, told the court that the accused drove his commercial bus with Reg. No .XM 68 AGL and in the process damaged one Toyota Corolla car with Reg. No. ES 734 EKJ.
Unawumwa put the value of the damaged vehicle at about N456,756.
He told the court that the offence was committed on Dec. 14, at about 2 p.m., at Liverpool Roundabout, Apapa.
Unawunwa said the offences contravened Sections 24 (1) and 29 (1) of the Road Traffic Act (RTA), Cap. 124 Vol .6 Laws of Lagos 2003.
Ekwonu, who had pleaded not guilty when he was first arraignment on Feb. 28, was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
After a series of adjournments, the chief magistrate had ordered the prosecutor and the Investigating Police Officer to produce witnesses since none had appeared since the case began.
At Monday’s sitting, Adelaja struck out the case for lack of diligent prosecution and subsequently discharged Ekwonu. .

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Store keeper arraigned for stealing 450 bags of sugar.

The police in Lagos on Monday arraigned one Abayomi Dada, 44, before an Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing 450 bags of sugar, valued at N2.7 million.
The accused, a store keeper with the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc, is facing a one-count charge of stealing.
The prosecutor, Emanuel Ajayi, said the accused committed the offence in September 2010 at the company’s plant in Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
Ajayi said it was discovered during stocktaking that the accused had committed the theft of the commodity used in producing beverages by the company.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 370 (7) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State.
The Magistrate, Kemi Doja-Ojo, granted the accused N100,000 bail with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case to July 27 for further hearing.NAN/JIDEMurder accused acted under provocation - Police investigator.
An Investigating Police Officer, Insp. Philips Ikuejajo, on Monday told an Ikeja High Court in Lagos that a security guard, Lawali Adamu, accused of murdering one Gbolahan Odutayo, acted under provocation.

Ikuejajo was testifying at the trial of Adamu before Justice Olabisi Akinlade.
Adamu, 32, is facing a one-count charge of the murder of Odutayo, a shoe-maker, on July 15, 2009, in Agege, Lagos.
Ikuejalo, who was being led-in-evidence by the prosecutor, Abiola Adeyinka, told the court that police investigation revealed that Adamu stabbed Gbolahan to death with a pair of scissors.
He said the accused and the deceased were scavenging at the site of a demolished structure along the railway line in Agege area of Lagos when an argument resulted in a scuffle over a piece of plank to which they both laid claim to.
He said Adamu brought out a pair of scissors and stabbed Odutola when he was overpowered by the deceased.
Under cross examination by the defence counsel, Jonathan Ogunsanya , Ikuejajo, however, said that he did not know whether the accused acted in self defence.
He told the court that he did not carry out any investigation in that regard because he thought Adamu must have acted under provocation.
Yahu Kake, Chief Security Officer, Agege Hausa Community, also testified in the matter.
Kake said he was returning from mosque on the fateful day when he saw people gathered around the railway line.
He said on getting to the scene, he met Gbolahan’s lifeless body lying on the ground while Adamu, was standing some distance away holding a pair of scissors stained with blood.
Adamu had on May 11 pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder.
The case was adjourned to June 23 for continuation of trial.