Lowo Oyediran’s murder: Prosecution witness denies demanding for money

• Returns cheque to court

TWO prosecution witnesses in the on-going trial of 28-year-old Yewande Oyediran (nee Fatoki), a lawyer with the Oyo State Ministry of Justice who was alleged of unlawfully causing the death of Lowo Oyediran, her 38 years old husband, on Monday, denied sending any legal representative to demand for the sum of N500, 000 before they will appear to give testimony in the matter.

The two witnesses – Chief John Adelodun Akinpelu and his wife, Esther Omotayo Akinpelu, made the denial while testifying before Justice Munta Abimbola of the Oyo State High Court 1, High Court Complex, Ring road, Ibadan on what they saw on the night of Lowo’s alleged murder.

The duo who are landlords to the couple and are the witnesses to most of what happened between the couple on the night of the alleged murder, informed the court that they never sent anyone to write the court or the prosecution to demand for money.

According to them, they do not know the lawyer nor instructed him to write the demand letter. “Mr Michael Folorunso Lana, was at no time appointed as my counsel. I did not see the said letter or give instruction to the effect that I should be paid,” Chief Akinpelu said.

He and his wife told the court they had been coming of their volition as part of their civic responsibilities and only held back when they started hearing that their life was not safe and they both returned the cheque to the court.

The private prosecutor, S.S. Akinyele urged the court to collect the check and pay back into the coffers of the state judiciary where it was drawn.

Justice Abimbola commended the couple for their sense of responsibility and ordered that the court registrar should collect the cheques and return them to the Deputy Chief Registrar in charge of litigation to process back into the judiciary account.

In his testimony, Chief Akinpelu informed the court that around midnight on February 2, 2016, they heard sounds of fighting in the couple’s apartment and when he and his wife got there, they met Yewande with a scissors in her hand and Lowo, who was bleeding from his left armpit and his back on the right side with their sitting room floor stained with blood.

He explained that when they asked Yewande what happened, she only said her husband was cheating on her, deceiving her and was untruthful, adding that they cannot understand, adding that his wife, who is a retired nurse tried to administer first aid, but when the bleeding continued, Lowo took the car keys and went for treatment at a nearby hospital – living Hope hospital and maternity home where a Dr Ariyo treated him.

Akinpelu said they stayed with the couple, appealing to Yewande till about 3 am when she said they should go home and sleep because she had a court appearance in the morning and there was no cause for alarm while she cleaned the blood stains in their sitting room.

“So we left believing all was well but around 5.50am, we heard scuttles again and footsteps indicating they were pursuing each other with Lowo shouting Daddy, help. But I first peeped out of the window to confirm what was happening and I saw Lowo with blood gushing out of the right side of his neck and Yewande holding a knife. By the time I forcefully opened our entrance door, Lowo staggered and fell down in a pool of his blood at our door and Yewande dropped the knife.

“We ran to call Dr Ariyo who came with a wad of cotton, but after he examined him said it was beyond him and he should be rushed to the University Teaching Hospital; that was when another tenant, Mrs Olubunmi Onipede and her sister came and took Lowo to the clinic with Yewande in the car. I was later called that it was Bambi Hospital that they took him and later he died,” he stated.

His wife’s testimony was also the same and they did not change their claims under cross examination. The third witness, Olubunmi Onipede, a psychologist with the Society for Family Peace and survival based in Nigeria and Ghana also corroborated the report, adding that they took Lowo to Bambi Hospital rather than UCH because his condition was getting worse and it was nearer, adding that Yewande suggested the hospital.

She explained that it was the hospital authorities that called the police when Lowo gave up after the doctor on learning from Onipede that it was a case of domestic violence, interrogated Yewande who stated that she inflicted the fatal wound in self defence.

The case has been adjourned till December 21, 2016 for continuation of trial.