27th October, 2016
A Lokoja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a furniture maker, Umar Abdulkarim and a vulcanizer, Isiaka Idris, in prison for alleged housebreaking, theft and attempt to escape from lawful custody.
The Chief Magistrate, Levi Animoku, in his ruling after their arraignment, said the offences against the accused persons were grievous
He described bail as a constitutional right of an accused presumed innocent and which should not be withheld as a punitive measure.
“However, where bail is granted to an accused in a criminal case and he is shown to have breached all or any of the terms or conditions, the court hearing the case or any other case against such an accused must be cautious.
“The accused persons before me have clearly breached Section 341(2)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“Therefore, notwithstanding the presumption of innocence and their pledge to comply with bail terms or conditions in this court, I am more convinced that the propensity to elope justice is high.
“Therefore, bail is refused. The accused persons shall be remanded at the Federal Prisons, Koton-Karfe and the case is adjourned to Nov. 18, for mention. It is so ordered,” Animoku declared.
The Prosecutor, Sgt Tuesday Ganagana, had told the court that the accused were earlier arraigned on Sept. 27, for housebreaking and theft before a Lokoja Chief Magistrates’ Court.
Ganagana said that the magistrate granted them bail but barely a month after, they committed similar offences and were re-arraigned but this time around, were denied bail and remanded in police custody.
While in custody, the prosecutor further claimed, the duo somehow imported some iron rod into the police cell, chiselled a part of the walls and created a big escape hole but were discovered before they could escape.
The police, according to Ganagana, have to evacuate other suspects in the cell to another division of the force in the state, adding that the accused did not refrain as they also attempted to escape while they were being taken to court.
The accused, while in handcuffs, planned and jumped out of police vehicle and attempted to run away in synchronised leaps as the vehicle stopped at a junction awaiting the green traffic light but they were again, apprehended few metres away.
Ganagana said investigation was still ongoing and vehemently opposed admitting the accused to bail as he argued that they would simply disappear into thin air having made desperate attempts to escape before now.