Four armed robbery suspects standing trial before a Lagos High Court are still languishing in prison custody ten years after their trial commenced.
The accused persons are standing trial before Justice Gbaja-Biamila.
They are Chukwudi Orji, Rasheed Omisore, Adedoja Aderinoye, and Sule Jamiu.
At the resumed hearing of the matter, counsel to the first accused, Francis Udokporoh, informed the court that the accused persons have spent the better part of their lives in prison not as convicts but as suspects.
He cited the case of the first accused person, Chukwudi Orji, who was 14 years old when he was arrested but now twenty-four years and still undergoing trial.
He submitted that the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) who is also a prosecution witness has been unnecessarily delaying the trial, noting that since the trial commenced the IPO had not been in court to give his evidence.
He urged the court to close the evidence of the IPO in order to allow other witnesses to testify, arguing that the court cannot continue to wait for him indefinitely.
Udokporoh argued that the accused persons remained suspects until proved otherwise, adding that justice demands that the court proceed with the matter.
Earlier in his submission, the state counsel A. Adebayo pleaded with the court to grant a short adjournment to enable the IPO give his evidence.
He however acknowledged that he does not know the whereabouts of the IPO.
However, Justice Gbaja-Biamila, in his ruling, granted a short adjournment but warned that if the IPO did not appear before the court at the adjourned date he would have no option but to close his evidence.
The accused persons were said to have on 22nd November 1998, at number 7, Baba Sala Street Amukoko, Lagos, in the Lagos Judicial Division, while armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons robbed one Stella Obi (now deceased), of a CD radio, packets of cigarettes, N15 lighters and N20, 000.
The matter has been adjourned till 20 January 2008, for continuation.
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