A mild drama ensued at sitting of Ogun State Panel on petition against police brutality at Magistrate Court, Isabo, Abeokuta when a Police Inspector, Orankan Balogun told the panel he was not aware of Administrative Criminal Justice Act, enacted since 2015.
Penpushing reports that,the Police Inspector said to have spent 22 years in the service claims ignorance of the act which stipulates that it is mandatory that a suspect makes his statement in the presence of his lawyer and where a lawyer is not available, the process must be recorded with an audio-visual device to prevent suspects making statement under duress.
The Inspector appeared before the panel in respect of a petition submitted by one Mr. Gbenga Kehinde who was accused, arrested and detained unlawfully for 47 days alongside his friends, Messrs. Rafiu Bena, Emmanuel David and Saheed Adesanya for allegedly stealing fishes worth N63m at a fish farm in Imagbon area of Ijebu-Ode.
Penpushing further reports that, Kehinde had in petition submitted earlier to the Panel stated that “on the 7th of October, 2017, I was arrested with my three other friends. We were taking to Magbon SARS office in Abeokuta where we spent over 10 weeks in detention at the Police custody with several daily torture for an offence we did not commit”, and that they were forced to sign statements obtained from them under duress.
The police inspector during cross examination, had disclosed that he was the leader of a team that arrested the suspects, confirming that the suspects were actually arrested and locked up for 47 days before they were eventually released, but denied the allegation of torture and brutality and obtaining their statements under duress
Penpushing also reports that, when asked why the suspects were not charged to court for trial but detained unlawfully for 47 days in contradiction of the Administrative Criminal Justice Act, Balogun and his colleague Police Inspector Adams Abubakar said, “we were waiting for negotiations between the complainant, members of the suspects’ family and the community of the suspects”.
The Panel Chairman, Justice Solomon Olugbemi while speaking with journalists said both the Administrative Criminal Justice Acts of 2015 and the Administration of Criminal Justice and Other Allied Matters law of Ogun State of 2017 provided that, before the statement of a defendant is taken by the police, his lawyer should be present or there must be video recording of the process of taking the statement.
Penpushing reports that, Olugbemi reminded law enforcement agents to always comply with extant laws, recalling that there had been several reports alleging that police officers obtained statements from suspects under duress.
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