THE remains of the postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Timothy Adegoke, who was allegedly killed inside Hilton Hotel, IleIfe, were on Friday released to his family for burial.
His remains were handed over to the family by the authorities of the UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, and taken to his hometown, Eruwa in Oyo State.
The deceased’s brother, Gbade, other family members and some clerics received the corpse at 12:45 p.m. and conveyed it into a waiting ambulance that promptly took it away. It was gathered that the body would be buried today in Eruwa after a lying-in-state and a candlelight procession, on Friday.
Meanwhile, counsel for Adegoke’s family, Mr Naim Adekilekun, has kicked against the alleged plan of the police to file a charge against the suspects arrested in connection with the murder at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Adekilekun, speaking to newsmen on Friday in Osogbo, argued that those arrested in connection with the crime should be prosecuted in Osun State and not in Abuja.
He said: “We are of the firm view that since none of the elements of the offence to be tried by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory happened or took place in the Federal Capital Territory, we shall be demanding that the case be tried at the High Court of Osun State, being the court with the requisite jurisdiction to try the case. There is nothing in Section 93 (1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act that can make the Police act otherwise.
“Justice will not be served if Adedoyin and others are tried in Abuja and prosecuting the matter in Abuja would expose it to be technically knocked out or technically defeated by the defence.
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“As we are preparing for the prosecution of the suspects arrested in connection to this murder, we wish to state that it has filtered to us that the police in Abuja is ready to prefer a charge against the suspects in respect of this case at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“It must be stated here that the family never doubted the competence of the police to prosecute this case to a logical conclusion. But as the solicitors to the family, we have our reservations against the prosecution of this case at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“To start with, in criminal prosecution, the court in the territorial jurisdiction of the area of the alleged crime will be seised of the case and nothing more, although this may not be the case of some federal offences triable at the Federal High Court of any judicial division and the reason for this is not far-fetched. This can be traced to the fact that the law recognises Federal High Court of Nigeria to be one and single court, irrespective of the division.
“This explains the reason why a case instituted in Federal High Court A may be transferred to Federal High Court B if there is a need for that. This is not the case with respect to the High Court of different states. A High Court of Osun State, for example, cannot transfer a case to the High Court of Oyo State for adjudication. A High Court of a state will be one in division with respect to other High Court in the same state and not a High Court of the other state.
“As it stands now, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act is the law that guides the prosecution of crimes at the Federal High Court in Nigeria and other offences punishable in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This law provides the framework for criminal litigation in those courts where it is applicable.
“Section 93 of the Act which deals with place of trial or inquiry is apt as to the venue of criminal trial in our courts in Nigeria. This Section 93 (1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 are specific on the jurisdiction in criminal trial and for clarity, the section provides: 93 (1) An offence shall ordinarily be inquired into and tried by a court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction: The offence was wholly or in part committed, or some act forming part of the offence was done.
“Consequence of the offence has ensured; An offence was committed by reference to which the offence is denied; or a person against whom, or property in respect of which, the offence was committed is found, having been transported there by the suspect or by a person knowing of the offence.
“A criminal charge shall be filed and tried in the division where the alleged offence was committed unless it can be shown that it is convenient to do otherwise for security reasons. However, the subsection 2 which seems to provide a proviso to the Section 93 (1) does not operate in the circumstance of Timothy’s case, because there is no security reasons for not charging these suspects at the High Court of Justice Osun State, it is not necessary that they should be charged at Ile-Ife, Osun State where the alleged murder was committed, they can be charged in Osogbo, the state capital.
“The provision of the law as stated above had be given judicial interpretation by our various courts for instance, in the case of Dariye V. the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2015) LPELR-24398, the Supreme Court per NWEZE, JSC P.48, paragraphs A to E.
“On the questions of territorial jurisdiction of the trial court and whether the said trial court could hear and determine the charges against the appellant, it suffices to reiterate the views of this court in Nyame V FRN (2010) ALL FWLR (Pt. 527) 618, where Adekeye JSC laid down a very illuminating guide on how to resolve the issue of venue of trial of an accused person.
According to the legal Amazon, whenever the issue of the venue of the trial of an accused person comes up for determination, the most appropriate way of resolving the issue is to identify the offences charged and the elements of same as contained in the proof of evidence with a view to determining whether any of the acts constituting the offence occurred in the particular place where then accused is being tried.”