Police shun court orders, sit on N700,000 cash exhibit

 

It is almost three years after Mr. Emeka Okeke was discharged in a case of arson in which he was accused of having burnt down his landlord’s house at 1, Olatoke Owoo Close, Ikotun, Lagos State.

Okeke was on October 27, 2010 discharged and the court ordered that  his N700,000 used as exhibit in the case be released to him. After one year, and the police were still holding to money, the court gave another order directing the money to be released to Okeke. The second order given on October July, 2012 had yet to be complied with.

The police in Lagos State may have shunned the successive court orders.

It all started in 2008, when Okeke, was charged with arson after his landlord, Alhaji Adejare Apampa, accused him of setting his (Apampa’s) house on fire.

 Okeke, who was renting a flat apartment in the house and living there with his family, lost all his belongings to the inferno except the N700,000 cash that was kept in a safe.

 The police at Ikotun Police Station, where Apampa reported the matter, while on a visit to the site of the  fire incident, recovered the money in the presence of witnesses.

 The money was said to have been partially affected by the heat from the fire.

The case was in September 2008 subsequently transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti.

The SCID took over the matter completely and commenced criminal proceedings against Okeke in Magistrates’ Court No. 5, Ebute-Metta.

On the order of the presiding Chief Magistrate, Mr. P.A Ojo, the duplicate case file was sent to the office of the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of the state.

However, the police prosecutor, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, I. Effiong, told the magistrate on October 27, 2010 that the prosecution had recieved the legal advice from the Ministry of Justice.

The said legal advice indicated that no case was disclosed against Okeke, recommending that he should be discharged immediately.

“This office is therefore of the opinion that the suspect (defendant) should be discharged and released if still in custody as there is no case is disclosed against him,” the legal advice read in part.”

 The magistrate subsequently on the same day, ordered that Okeke be discharged and the charge struck out. He further ordered that the exhibit recovered by the police be released to the suspect.

The order, a copy of which was obtaied by our correspondent, read in part, “Pursuant to the advice and Section 74 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law od Lagos State, Charge No D/50/08 is struck out and the defendant is discharged. It is further ordered that exhibits recovered by the police be released to the defendant.”

No appeal was filed by the police against the ruling of the magistrate as they did not also claim that the money was never in their custody.

Since the magistrate gave the order, Okeke and his counsel, Mr. Kelvin Okoroafor, had since made series of efforts to claim the money from the police.

When their efforts would not yield any result, the lawyer filed summons for compliance against the Commissioner of Police in Lagos before a Chief Magistrate, Mrs C.T. Adesola-Ikpatt.

The summons for compliance was filed against the Lagos Commissioner of Police in accordance with Section 56(1) and (2) of the Magistrate’s Court Law (No. 16) 2009.

Okeke’s affidavit accompanying the summons read in part, “I have since made several efforts – even in the company of my legal practioners – to retrieve the said sum of N700,000 partially affected by heat from the fire but we were frustrated, harassed and threatened not to visit the SCID, Panti for the same purpose.

“The SCID Panti refused, failed and /or neglected to return the money exhibits to me.”

The court, in a ruling it delivered on July 25,  2012, ordered that the money be released to Okeke within 30 days.

Adesola-Ikpatt, who delivered the ruling, dismissed the excuse tendered by the police that the Investigative Police Officer who was handling the matter had died.

The ruling read in part, “In my view, the nature or condition of the exhibit involved in this case is of no consequence. The important thing is that the police took it into custody and the court having ordered its release to the applicant, the order ought to be complied with.

“It is also my humble view that the death of the IPO who investigated this case is not and should be an excuse as the said exhibit would have been handed to the exhibit keeper and therefore not expected to have been in the custody of the late IPO.”

The magistrate ordered that the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police be notified of the order and ensure that it was immediately complied with.

The ruling read, “It is hereby ordered that the Inspector-General of Police and the state Commissioner of Police, Lagos State be and are hereby notified of the disobedience of their officers and men of the state SCID, Panti Lagos to the order of this honourable court made on October 27 directing them to release to the applicant the monetary exhibit in this case, which was struck out by this court pursuant t the legal advice issued by the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, state Ministry of Justice Alausa on September 30, 2010.

It is further ordered that the respondent shall ensure compliance with the pending order of October 27, 2010 within 30 days from the date of service of this order upon him.”

It is about one year after this order was made , yet the police had yet to comply with the order and nobody has since been punished for the refusal to comply with the order.

When contacted through the telephone, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Mr. Damasus Ozoani, said he needed time to respond to the development.