An Igbosere High Court, sitting in Lagos, on Wednesday refused the bail application of a member of the vigilante group, Ibrahim Lawal, accused of killing Abdullahi Adedeji by shooting him.
The defendant, Lawal, upon his arraignment pleaded not guilty to a count charge of manslaughter preferred against him by the Lagos State Government.
Justice Adedayo Akintoye, after listening to the bail application and objection by the state prosecutor, said: “to grant or refuse bail is at the discretion of the court”.
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According to Akintoye, manslaughter is a serious offence.
“I will not grant bail to the defendant, but will instruct the prosecutor to expedite prosecution of this case,” she said.
The judge, however, remanded the defendant in prison, while the case was adjourned until Nov.14 for trial.
Earlier, counsel to the defendant’s, Mr Ambali Alimi, urged the court to grant bail to his client.
Alimi said that the defendant had been in detention since November 2014.
He said the defendant has credible sureties and would not interfere with the case if granted bail.
Alimi said the defendant had submitted a form he filled as a member of a vigilante group in Lagos State as an exhibit in his bail application.
He pleaded that he would not jump bail if granted.
Opposing the bail application, Mr Yusuf Sule, the state prosecutor, said that the offence committed by the defendant “is capital in nature”.
Sule had told the court that the defendant committed the offence on Nov. 2, 2014, at 8.30 p.m at Itire Road, Ajegunle, Lagos.
He said that the defendant killed the deceased by shooting him, claiming that he shot into the air.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 227 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
NAN.https://newsroom.nan.ng/manslaughter-court-declines-bail-application-of-vigilance-group-member/
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