Court rejects fresh post-mortem on Offa robbery principal suspect’s corpse

The Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, yesterday, rejected a post-mortem analysis on the corpse of the principal suspect, Michael Adikwu, in the April 5, 2018 bloody Offa robbery incident. The court however granted the prayer of the defence asking for an independent examination of the alleged gunshot injuries sustained by the first, second […]

The Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, yesterday, rejected a post-mortem analysis on the corpse of the principal suspect, Michael Adikwu, in the April 5, 2018 bloody Offa robbery incident.

The court however granted the prayer of the defence asking for an independent examination of the alleged gunshot injuries sustained by the first, second and third accused persons in the case.

Earlier, the 5th accused person (Niyi Ogundiran) narrated in the court how the police extracted his confessional statement from him under duress.

The first, second and third accused persons had at the last adjourned date accused the police of shooting them on the legs to instill fear in them before extracting statements from them.

They also alleged that the police shot death Michael Adikwu while in their custody.

Defence counsel Mathias Emeribe said “in view of the fact that the four accused persons had given their stories, I hereby apply for an independent medical examination of the legs of the first, second and third accused persons.

But prosecution counsel Prof Wahab Egbewole (SAN) opposed the application vehemently, describing it as strange.

The presiding judge, Justice Halima Salman, ruled “in the interest of justice and fair hearing to allow for a medical examination to know whether the healed wounds on the three suspects’ legs emanated from gunshots.

On post-mortem examination, she said “there is nothing the autopsy will add to this case. It is baseless and pointless to grant the second prayer.”

She ordered the court Registrar to prepare the “enroll order today to be served on both the defence and prosecution” and adjourned the case to April 8 for continuation of defence in trial within trial.