Slain banker: Court fines lawyer for delaying trial

Akolade Arowolo

An Ikeja High Court on Wednesday ordered Akolade Arowolo’s lawyer, Mr. Olanrewaju Ajanaku, to pay a fine of N2, 500 for delaying his (Arowolo) murder trial.

Ajanaku had prayed the court on January 29, 2013 to adjourn the case to enable him to produce the witnesses at a later date.

However on Wednesday, after presenting two witnesses in court, Ajanaku again prayed the court to adjourn the matter till Thursday (today) in order to enable him to produce another witness.

“I pray this honourable court to give me until tomorrow (today) to present our last witness. The witness is not prepared to take the stand at this time. I hereby ask for an adjournment for tomorrow (today)”, he said.

Justice Lateefa Okunnu however berated the lawyer for what she described as a waste of tax payers’ money and the time of the court.

She said, “Mr. Ajanaku, you were the one pressing for a speedy trial initially but now you are the one wasting time. You had about two months since the last adjourned date to prepare but you have failed to do this.

“Also, you told me during the last adjourned date that you had only two witnesses left. Now you are introducing a third person.

“For wasting tax payers’ money and the time of the court, you will pay the sum of N2, 500 from your personal pocket and file an affidavit of compliance.”

Meanwhile, a defence witness, Eucharia Enofe, while being led in evidence by Ajanaku, said Akolade was injured when he was taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, on July 27, 2011.

Enofe, who was the head of the team of policemen that investigated the case, said Akolade cried during police interrogations and even said he did not believe that his wife, Titilayo, was dead.

She said, “I was in charge of the team at the SCID. When Akolade was brought to our department, I observed a cut on his right palm and bruises on his body.

“He said he had pains all over his body and we even took him to hospital. Each time we asked him why he killed his wife; he would burst into tears and cry throughout interrogation. He always said, ‘I don’t believe my wife is dead.”

While being cross-examined by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Olabisi Ogungbesan, Enofe disclosed that she handled the case for less than a month before she was transferred to Sokoto Police Command.

Another defence witness, Taiwo Ogunsola, who identified herself as a mortuary scientist at Lekan Ogunsola Memorial House at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, said Titilayo’s corpse was delivered to the mortuary by her (Titilayo’s) sister, Aidehi.

Ogunsolasaid she was not around on the day the corpse was brought in. She however said the corpse was registered at the front desk.

Ajanoku prayed the court to admit photocopies of the front desk register, corpse release form and death certificates as evidence since Ogunsola could not bring the original to court.

Okunnu admitted the documents as exhibits D1, D2 and D3.

PUNCH